Amor Vincit Omnia
by LizzeXX
Summary: Kirk/OC – James T. Kirk and Victoria Pike had their entire lives before them, a blossoming relationship, and a future in the Fleet…till they finally broke one too many rules saving Nibiru and nearly lose it all. But when Khan attacks they may lose something far more important. Will they lose themselves to their vengeance? Or will they lose each other? Second in the Captain's Log.
1. A Reluctant Captain

A/N: Hello, hello! :) So this the second 'entry' in my Captain's Log series, a Kirk/OC story :) I'd recommend new readers check out the first 'entry,' Ad Victoriam, to understand the relationship that Victoria (the OC) has with Kirk ;) This story will be about 10 chapters long, updated daily, and will largely follow the movie Into Darkness.

A small description of Victoria Pike, she's a tall woman with blue-grey eyes (her father's eyes), but her mother's dark ash blonde hair. She's got a sort of button nose and a wide grin, according to Kirk. She tends to wear her hair in a messy bun and is typically in the red engineering uniform for the Fleet. To help visualize her, an actress that I picture as being similar to her is Carey Mulligan :)

I hope you all enjoy :)

~8~ is a scene break

Disclaimer...I don't own Star Trek...or we'd have seen Spock's Pon Farr already ;)

~8~

A Reluctant Captain

Victoria shifted uncomfortably as she sat in the Captain's chair of the Enterprise, the crew around her shouting reports of Kirk and Spock's progress on the planet they were currently monitoring, the Class M planet Nibiru. She wasn't really fond of Class M planets after the last experience on one. No matter how amazing it had been to begin a new relationship with Kirk on the Class M planet of Delta Vega…being chased by the native creatures in the middle of a blizzard with an injured hand had NOT helped the experience. Thinking on that, she looked at her hand, flexing it, she really did need to stop punching people for Kirk. She'd only punched two though so she'd kept close to her original promise to never do it again. She'd punched 'Cupcake' once, the first time she'd actually met Kirk and sprained her hand, sworn to herself she wouldn't do it again...then she'd punched Spock when Kirk had been sent off the Enterprise for defying him and, as it turned out, she had actually broken her hand that time…which meant that she'd had to go to see a 'doctor' for it every so often. She hated that, the medbay, but luckily Bones had taken it upon himself to see to her the second she got there, to get her out of there as soon as possible, but she still hated it. And with her hand broken, she hadn't been able to help out in engineering often.

It was a requirement for all liaisons to the Bridge to take time, about 10-20 hours a month, and spend it with the teams they were liaisoning for. Being injured, she could shadow Scotty and talk to him in engineering but she couldn't get hands on and actually work on the different components of the ship. There were only two things about having broken her hand that she could be grateful for, the first was Kirk. Every day when he saw her, he'd gently take her hand in his, even though he had no idea what he was looking for or even how to determine if it was getting better, and he'd just hold it lightly, and then press a kiss to a finger or two that stuck out of the cast. He'd been the first one to sign it too, he'd actually shoved poor Chekov aside in order to do it, then apologized and let the boy sign second. It was a very sweet gesture, the kissing not the shoving, and Kirk did it every single day. She'd jokingly asked him if it was because of the whole 'kissing makes it feel better' thing and he'd surprised her by saying that no, it wasn't that, it was just…he loved kissing her and…he was actually rather fond of her hands.

That surprised her, she hadn't known that he had an interest in her hands. They'd gotten into a bit of a lewd bicker about why he liked her hands in particular, with her throwing out any number of things ranging from punching people with them to doing other things with him with them to the fact that they were just small…he'd cut her off after quite a few of them and said it was because she was in engineering. She used her hands to fix things, to make things better, and he'd gotten surprisingly metaphorical and philosophical about it all, claiming that she made him better, she fixed him when he hadn't known he was broken, and that he always felt more powerful when he could hold her hand. He loved her hands because she created with them, she improved things and fit broken pieces together with them, and he was sort of the opposite, before the Academy though, he'd always get into fights and break things and steal things. He liked her hands because even with their own being so different from the other's…they still fit perfectly together.

He liked doing that, going on about the different ways they fit together.

The second thing she could be grateful for was actually that. Because she'd found that…SHE fit with the Enterprise, with the crew, with Kirk. She'd spent so long debating what she really wanted to do with her life, if she really wanted to be a part of a starship or the Fleet or if she'd try to branch out, escape the family business as her father joked, and do something else. She'd been debating it right to graduation actually, but…experiencing the adventure, the thrill, the exhilaration of being on a starship when her father had been taken by Nero, going on a rescue mission and seeing just how much of a difference they COULD make…she felt like she finally knew where she wanted to be. And that WAS in the Fleet. Kirk had been thrilled when she'd told him that after they'd graduated. They'd just been walking around and he'd remarked that, now that he was Captain of the Enterprise, something that had been given to him just after graduation, that he needed to think about the crew and who would be on it.

He kept everyone from the original crew and when she'd requested the liaison role, he'd been so happy he'd just grabbed her in the middle of their walk and spun her around in a tight hug. He hadn't stopped smiling since then and she was so happy to know it was because of her. Though…right now, she was sure he was FAR from smiling as he and Bones were, apparently, running through the vegetation of the planet, trying to escape the natives that were chasing them and hurling spears at them.

She rubbed her head, she knew she should have demanded she go to the planet with them, but Kirk and, surprisingly, Spock had both urged her to stay on the ship. Apparently, she was the only one there with enough experience as captain that they trusted to handle the crew and keep to mission while they went about seeing to its completion. Kirk HAD designated her First Officer for a few moments, till Spock had come around and taken the position back, thankfully, and with Kirk AND Spock on the planet…she had been the only one actually appointed to First Officer at one point or another. She'd pointed out to both of them that, if they only counted that moment, which they should, she didn't have that much experience as captain. Kirk had just remarked that her father was Pike, she'd grown up in the Fleet, her family's legacy was everywhere, and if anyone could handle being captain, it would be her.

She'd begrudgingly given in at that, it was true, she'd been around her father while he was going through the ranks, she'd been on numerous ships, seen the captains at work…she probably knew quite a few tricks of being a captain and didn't even realize it. She just…didn't like being in charge of things, of people. She'd seen the weight it had put on her father to be the captain, seen what he was willing to give up for his crew. She agreed, a crew was your family, you should do all you could to protect them, but that was said in the mindset of being a member of a crew and not in the context of being the person's actual daughter. In THAT context…she really would rather her father not willingly walk into a torture situation where he might be murdered. It was only one small part of not wanting to be captain, she liked engineering, she really felt like she'd found her niche in it and in the crew and that was what she was, the crew, not the captain.

She looked up, her eyes fixed on the viewscreen where they were tracking not only Kirk and Bones, but the shuttle that was carrying Uhura, Sulu, and Spock as well. Though, she had to admit, her attention was largely focused on Kirk and Bones, watching the two of them running till they suddenly stopped.

She frowned, opening the comms., "James what happened?" she called.

"Our brilliant captain just shot our ride!" came Bones's angry shout, getting to them before Kirk could.

"James!" she huffed, "Why did you…"

"No time!" Kirk cut in, "Run!"

She watched as the blinking lights that represented them began to move again, "Open all comms.," she called to Chekov, wanting the open dialogue between Kirk and the shuttle so she could keep track of their progress.

"Kirk to Shuttle 1!" Kirk called, "Both of us are out of the kill zone. You are clear repeat."

"Spock," Victoria stood, "You're clear to neutralize the volcano."

"So hurry it up!" Kirk added, "Let's get out of here."

"I told the captain, the shuttle wasn't built for this kind of heat!" Sulu grumbled to them.

"And Scotty and I adapted it as best we could with little notice," Victoria countered, "As long as you don't hover in the volcano before you need to drop Spock in, you'll be fine…"

There was silence.

Victoria closed her eyes, "You're hovering in the volcano right now, aren't you?"

"Aye Captain Pike," Chekov reported before wincing, "Sorry, sorry, I mean…Liaison Pike…or…um…"

"Just call me Tory, Chekov," Victoria rubbed the bridge of her nose, this was another reason she didn't do well as captain. Too many titles and confusion about what to call people and things.

"Captain," Spock's voice came over the comm., "Did any indigenous life forms see you?"

"No Mr. Spock they did not," Kirk shouted back.

"James," Victoria's voice took an edge to it, she could tell he was lying.

"The prime directive clearly states there can be no interference, with the internal development of alien civilizations!" Spock recited.

"I know what it says, which is why I'm running through jungle, wearing a disguise. Now, drop off Victoria's super ice-cube, and let's go! Kirk out."

Victoria sat back in the chair, rubbing her temples, hearing Bones shouting, "They're trying to kill us. They're trying to kill us Jim!"

"No shock there," she muttered to herself, it seemed like everyone who met Kirk tried to kill him at one point or another. She looked up when a beep went off.

"Spock has been deployed," Chekov reported, the crew watching as a blinking light in the shuttle started to lower out of it…only for a small alarm to go off.

"Sulu!" she called into the comm., "What's happening?"

"I can't hold this position," Sulu strained to speak, they could hear him struggling to get the shuttle going.

"Retract Spock," she ordered, "Abort mission."

"Negative," Spock disagreed, "This is our only chance to save the species. If this volcano erupts, the planet dies."

"Why appoint me temporary Captain if you won't obey my orders?" she argued, "Sulu, pull him up!" but before anything could be done, the dot that represented Spock suddenly fell away from the shuttle, falling down the screen till it stopped.

"Spock, are you ok?" Uhura asked the question on everyone's mind.

"I am, surprisingly, alive," Spock reassured her, "Standby."

"No, don't standby," Victoria stood, "Nyota, suit up and deploy on the secondary line and retract him…"

"We have to abandon the shuttle," Sulu argued.

"We can't just leave him Sulu!" Uhura shouted.

"We don't have a choice," Sulu grunted, "Captain, Uhura I'm sorry, but the shuttle will go down in seconds if I don't get it away from the ash."

Victoria sighed, "Report back to the Enterprise then," she told them, "We'll…find a way to get him out from here," she had NO idea how they'd do that without transporting the Vulcan, and in order to do that, they'd have to be almost right above him, "James, did you get that?" she asked him, even though he'd appointed her temporary Captain, she still wanted to check in that it was ok.

"Captain, I'm ditching the shuttle," Sulu added in case he hadn't heard, "You gotta make it to the Enterprise on your own."

"Wonderful," Kirk grumbled.

"James, Bones, get to the beach," Victoria called, "We'll…raise the Enterprise and come get you and Spock."

"Negative," Spock's voice called out, "The native species must not see such technology as a starship. It is against the prime directive."

"I've got another idea," Kirk cut in.

"Jim, Jim the beach is that way!" Bones started to shout, making Victoria frown, not sure what Kirk was about to do or where the two rapidly moving dots were going.

"I know, we're not going to the beach!"

Apparently, whatever it was Kirk was planning, Bones had worked it out for, moments later he was muttering, "Oh no, no! I hate this!"

"I know you do!" was all Kirk replied…before a splash of water reached them.

Victoria rolled her eyes, "Chekov, maintain the comm. link to Spock," she ordered, turning to rush out of the room and head to the airlock, now guessing what Kirk had in mind as well. Apparently it was the same as Uhura and whom the trackers had picked up reaching one of the other airlocks only moments ago, the crew reporting that they were headed to the Bridge as she headed out.

She ran through the halls, trying to get to the airlock that had most recently been opened. She reached it just as Kirk and Bones got inside and hit a button on the control panel to seal the outer door and start draining the water from the room, allowing the two men air as they gasped and panted from holding their breath so long on their long swim down to where the Enterprise was hiding at the bottom of the ocean.

"Ah, there you are!" Scotty called, spotting her as he turned the corner, having come to confront the captain as well, "The golden goddess of victory I was searching for."

Victoria rolled her eyes at that, Scotty was…funny, amusing. He had decided that, since Kirk was so ridiculously entertaining when he was jealous, Scotty had taken to flirting with her and joking with her only when Kirk was around to irritate the man. It had progressed to a little bit of random, odd names that he gave her, a different one each time, whether Kirk was there or not. This was one of the new ones.

"What did you need Scotty?" she asked, keeping her gaze on the small window that led to the airlock, watching and waiting till the water had died away enough to safely open the doors.

"I just wanted to ask if you had any idea how ridiculous is to hide a starship on the bottom of the ocean?" he began as she pushed a button to open the door to see the two men, "We've been doing this since last night. The salt-water is going to erode..."

"Yes, Scotty, I know," she sighed, "I've told James about it, repeatedly. And for some reason," she shot Kirk a pointed look, "He hasn't listened to me."

"I did listen," he winked at her as he stepped out of the room.

"I had to repeat it 12 times," she poked him.

He grinned and caught her hand, "Because I love your voice," he told her, "Any chance I can get to listen to it I'll take."

She smiled at that, before she sighed, "You do know Spock is still trapped in a volcano while you're trying to flirt yes?"

Kirk blinked, "Right," he turned the hand he was holding so he could entwine their fingers and ran off down the hall.

Bones sighed, "I think I preferred it when they were arguing with each other," he muttered to Scotty, they still did, a lot, more than before actually, but there were times they were just so sickeningly sweet.

~8~

Kirk, Victoria, and Bones ran onto the Bridge to see Uhura and Sulu had returned, "Captain on ze bridge!" Chekov called to the others to alert them.

Victoria just let out a breath of relief when she saw he was referring to Kirk and not her.

"Lieutenant," he turned to Uhura, "Do we have an open channel on Mr. Spock?"

"I asked Chekov to keep them open as long as possible," Victoria told him.

But Uhura shook her head, "The heat is frying his comms. but we still have a contact."

"Spock!" Kirk shouted out into the comm..

"I activated Victoria's device, Captain," Spock reported, "When the countdown is complete the reaction should render the volcano inert."

"And that's going to render him inert!" Bones shot back.

"Spock we need to get you out of there!" Victoria told him.

"Do we have use of the transporters?" Kirk looked around.

"Negative, sir," Sulu frowned.

"If we did, we would have beamed you and Bones onboard," Victoria reminded him, "The magnetic field of the planet's too strong."

"We need to beam Spock back to the ship," Kirk turned to her, "Give me one way to do it."

"We'd have to be right over him," she told him seriously, knowing it went against the entire primary objective of their mission.

They were only meant to be there to observe the evolution of a new species. But their data had picked up seismic activity in the volcano and they'd realized that it was about to blow. Kirk had argued it was part of their mission to help save the natives because who could they complete their mission if the species was dead? Spock had…surprisingly agreed, though they were quite sure it was a lingering remnant of how he'd felt about losing Vulcan, to become such an endangered species, that to have this new species nearly wiped out as well had gotten to him. He'd claimed it was a logical reason but cautioned that they had to be careful.

Really though, she knew that both men just wanted the species and planet safe. It had nothing to do with their mission but more…being decent human beings. She'd been very proud of Kirk for that, had confronted him about it after they'd ended the meeting. He'd continued to affirm that it was because of the mission, but she knew better. She'd managed to drag it out of him after a few minutes in that storage closet she'd warned him about oh so long ago. But it was only fair, he'd completely embarrassed her in front of the crew when they'd gotten into a rather heated debate/argument about something she couldn't even remember now and he'd literally done as he'd feared he would have done in ages past and thrown her against the wall, kissing her.

Turnabout was fair play in that regard.

They'd tried to think of ways to help save the species short of transporting all of them onboard the ship and moving them to another, secure location. But that Spock would NOT agree to. Chekov had suggested a cold fusion reactor to help them. They had all the components for it, even had a shell of an old, hollowed out one, but they weren't sure if it would work. She and Scotty had teamed up (much to Kirk's annoyance) to get the cold fusion device back and running, using all the parts they could spare. But they'd done it, the bomb was ready and they had their fingers crossed that it would actually work.

"Hang on my sweet," Scotty cut in, "We're talking about an active volcano," he reminded them all, looking at Kirk, ignoring his narrowed eyes at his numerous pet names for Victoria, "Sir, if that thing erupts, I cannae guarantee we can withstand the heat."

"I don't know if we can maintain that kind of altitude," Sulu had to add.

"Our shuttle was concealed by the ash cloud," Spock's voice cut in, "But the Enterprise is too large. If utilized in a rescue effort, it would be revealed to the indigenous species."

"We get it Spock," Victoria rolled her eyes, "You're a walking rule book, but every rule in life has an exception."

"I do not recall any such rules."

"If you eat a marshmallow, do you REALLY have to wait an hour to swim?" she offered.

"Why would one eat a marshmallow before swimming?"

"That's not the point!" Kirk cut in, not wanting this to drag onto some sort of Vulcan attempt at stalling, "Victoria's right, there's got to be an exception."

"None. Such action violates prime directive."

"To hell with the prime directive!" Victoria shouted.

"We're trying to save you, damn it!" Bones agreed.

"Doctor," Spock began, his voice as even and steady as ever, "The needs of the many out weight needs of the few."

"If you want to go there Spock," Victoria glared at the ceiling as though she could see Spock through it, "There are MORE people on this starship than on that planet. Do you really want to argue who the 'many' are in this case?"

"Spock, we're talking about your LIFE," Kirk nodded.

"The Rule cannot be violated in any case..." Spock started to say, and they were sure that a lecture about the rules and the reasons that they had to be followed would have come next if not for the comm. breaking up into static at the heat inside the volcano.

"Spock!" Kirk looked at Uhura, trying not to notice how terrified she looked for Spock, "Try to get him back online."

"90 seconds to detonation," Chekov warned.

Kirk let out a breath and ran a hand through his hair, "If Spock were here and I were there, what would he do?" he glanced at Bones and Victoria.

"Let you die," Bones remarked, Victoria nodding solemnly beside him.

"Good think you're not him, isn't it?" she offered him a small smile as well, making him grin and nod.

To hell with the rules, they were getting their First Officer back.

~8~

Kirk and Victoria stood before the captain's chair, watching as the Enterprise rose out of the ocean, Kirk wincing when he saw that the natives had stopped in their tracks to stare up at the ship in wonder. He knew that Spock was going to give him hell for all this, that Vulcan was more stuck on the rules than…some sort of quip Bones would make up, leeches in a swamp? Molasses on a plate? He didn't know, but Spock was very fixated on the rules. It had honestly surprised him to find out that Uhura and Spock were a thing, the professors at the Academy were NOT allowed to begin relationships with their students, with any Cadets before graduation. For Uhura and Spock to have kissed the way they had when they'd gone to go get Pike back, well, they had to have done that more than once for Spock to be able to feel that comfortable openly being affectionate and physical with Uhura.

He had been debating using that as an argument to get Spock to agree to let them rescue him, bringing up that, clearly, he and Uhura had bent the rules in order to be able to be together, so why not bed the rules now. He was firmly of the belief that, if Spock had been less set against them rescuing him and more willing to be saved, he'd have come up with some sort of method to get him out of there without needing to use the Enterprise. But the stubborn Vulcan had been too determined to stick to the rules to the nth degree.

And now they were breaking every rule in the book to go get him back.

"Locking onto Commander Spock," Chekov reported.

"Come on," Kirk turned and ran out of the room with Bones and Victoria, heading for the transport room, the three of them reaching it just as Spock appeared on the transport pad, his arms spread out, his eyes wide, looking both as though he were ready to die and also shocked he was still alive.

"Are you alright Spock?" Victoria asked.

But Spock was looking at Kirk, "Captain, you let them see our ship."

Bones rolled his eyes at that, "He's fine."

"Bridge to Victoria!" Uhura called over the comm..

Victoria looked up, "What is it Nyota?"

"Is Commander Spock onboard?"

She smiled, nodding to herself at that, she knew that Uhura had probably asked for her because she couldn't trust Kirk not to make some sort of remark or joke or try to pull a fast one on her, "He's just fine Ny."

"Please notify him that your device has successfully detonated."

"Got it," she called, looking at Spock, "Did you get it?"

Kirk laughed happily at that, "Congratulations, Spock. You just saved the world."

Spock just blinked, STILL staring at Kirk, "You violated the prime directive."

"Ah come on Spock," Kirk waved him off, "They saw us. Big deal."

Victoria shook her head, "Go get washed up James, you smell like a fish," she grimaced at that.

"Yeah well you don't smell so hot either," Kirk fired back.

Victoria gave him a look, "And what do I smell like then?" she crossed her arms, challenging him, daring him to make some sort of comment.

Kirk blinked and seemed to realize what he'd said, before he grinned, "I have no idea, but whatever it is, I think you need a wash up too."

"Jim!" Bones chastised but Kirk had already grabbed Victoria's hand and pulled her out of the room.

…only for a slap to sound down the hall, followed by an 'ow!' by Kirk, and then Victoria walking back down the other way, past the door again, shaking her head at Kirk, who glumly followed after her, rubbing the back of his head.

Bones had to chuckle at that, for all their teasing and innuendo, neither Victoria nor Kirk were at THAT point just yet.

~8~

Victoria's face scrunched as she heard some sort of noise going off in the bedroom. She shook her head a little, snuggling more into the pillow beside her, the warm, oddly firm, and moving pillow.

"Stop laughing at me Jim," she mumble sleepily as she snuggled into him more, using the nickname she rarely ever used with him.

But Kirk just chuckled lightly, hearing his communicator going off, "Sorry Tor," he whispered, sitting up just enough to go get it, "Duty calls."

She rolled her eyes and just cuddled more into the sheets, silently cursing the comm.. This…didn't happen often, her and Kirk sharing a room, sharing a bed, JUST sleeping beside each other. On the Enterprise, she and Uhura shared a room, both of them having lost their roommates to the attack on Vulcan and neither willing to share their room with one of their men. Spock, because it would just be remarkably awkward, according to Uhura, to share with him with him still being a little stiff and distant with her. And Kirk because…well…he was Kirk. Victoria was under no delusions that he'd been with a woman or two (or five or more). She knew that he had experience that she didn't have and, while she knew he would NEVER push her to do something she was against, she was just…afraid more of herself than him.

There was no trying to hide the fact that they both were attracted to each other, if some of their fights were anything to go by as a determinant for the future, when that time came it would be…something rather incredible. But she didn't want to get to that point just yet. She…loved Kirk, she really did, but she knew that he HAD gone through a few women at times and, she supposed, she just wanted to make sure that he was actually serious about her. She knew he wasn't using her like he'd used a few others, but she just…she'd rather he get bored of her before they did anything that meant more to her than him.

Not that he'd get bored of her, no, he'd been fixated on her the entire time they were in the Academy and even more so on the Enterprise. She didn't think that would happen, she hoped it wouldn't especially with Future-Spock's words that they were married in his universe, apparently they'd been married to the end of their lives. But it was just…she knew what Kirk was like, what he could be like and…

It had been about a year since they'd gotten together and he…hadn't said it to her, the three words people always wanted to her. SHE refused to say it first, it was a challenge to herself, to see if she could get him to say it first. Because…she wasn't like that, she wasn't the one who had had multiple notches in her bedpost, she wasn't the one who had used other people like that, and she wasn't the one who flirted with every person of the opposite sex on two legs. Kirk was.

He'd changed, yes, he'd become less flirting with others, focusing on her instead. He didn't frequent the rooms of others, except hers, or (like now) when they were on Earth for a break, they'd get a small room together to just have some privacy. He didn't use flirting or seduction to try and get things out of others though that was bad news for her because he just turned the full effect of his blue eyes on her instead. He was different now, she wasn't sure if it was because of her or just how he'd always been but just hadn't been with a girl long enough to show it. But he WAS different.

It still couldn't erase some of the past though and she just…she wanted to hear him say it, just once, so she knew he was really serious about her. She'd asked him once, when he'd ended up with a girl for 4 months, a record for him, if he loved the girl, if he'd said he loved her. He'd just shrugged and said that love was a strong word and it was an important word and he knew that he wasn't exactly the epitome of fidelity at times, but to say he loved someone when he didn't was not something he would ever do unless he really did mean it, unless he was really dead serious about someone else.

She rolled onto her back and looked at him, "What was it?" she asked, seeing him grinning.

"We've been called in to San Francisco," he flopped back onto the bed, looking at her, "Your dad wants to see you, me, and Spock."

Victoria let out a breath, getting a feeling that this was NOT going to be as good a thing as Kirk seemed to think it would be. If it was a good visit…Pike would have called HER first.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter :) I really _cannot_ wait to get through this story ^-^

Some notes on reviews...(from the end of Ad Victoriam)...

Aww, thanks so much! :) I'm glad you're enjoying the stories so far ^-^

The titles are in Latin :) I know that for military and some organizations that they favor Latin based phrases, so I sort of kept that here, like a harkening back to the classics but with the futuristic Fleet :) The first title was 'To Victory' this one is 'Love conquers all' :)


	2. Pride and Punishment

Pride and Punishment

"James calm down!" Victoria called as Kirk practically hurried through the courtyard before the San Fransisco Fleet Headquarters where Pike had been stationed upon his relief of duties as captain of the Enterprise, "You're like an over excited puppy!"

Kirk shot her a saucy smirk, "Is that code for you wanting to put me on a leash?"

She gave him a sarcastic smirk back, "I prefer handcuffs."

"Well, well, well, you know…I think I might just have…"

"Buy me a drink first," she nudged him, it had become her 'thing' to say to him when he got a bit too rambunctious in his innuendo and flirting. Even though he had bought her a drink or two in the past, she always said it as a means to remind him he was getting a little ahead of himself or that it wasn't the right time…though she was sorely tempted to keep it up, if just to make Spock uncomfortable.

"I do not understand your level of excitement," Spock remarked, "A summons such as this does not engender thoughts of praise or reward."

"Spock," Kirk rolled his eyes, "I'm telling you _this_ why he called, I can feel it!"

"Your feeling aside, I consider it highly unlikely we will be selected for the new program."

"Why else would Pike want to see us? Well, besides wanting to see his daughter again…" he winced at that, Pike had NOT been a fan of him introducing himself (jokingly) as the man's son-in-law when they'd gone to tell him they were together.

Pike punched him.

Hard.

And then started shouting about how dare they run off and get married without telling him, how he thought they weren't together, how he thought they hated each other, and so on. Victoria, who had warned him against doing that joke to the man and had fully expected her father to go off that way, started to time the rant. A half hour later though, she was getting just as annoyed as he was sure Spock felt for all humans but never showed it, and finally broke character and told her father the truth. She'd even told him the _entire_ truth, how they'd been exiled to Delta Vega, how they'd met Future-Spock there and what he'd told them about their future in his universe.

Pike had been remarkably calmer after finding out that his baby girl hadn't just randomly gone to Vegas and eloped, though he didn't apologize to Kirk for punching him. He hadn't even bothered to ask the man's permission to court his daughter. To which Victoria had laughed heartily at that, citing it wasn't the middle ages, she didn't need her father to give his blessing on who she dated.

After that, Pike was just as he always was, though he was a little more familiar and open with Kirk as a result of finding out his daughter loved the man.

Yes, she'd even told her father that, how she really felt about Kirk, but in private. She was probably more nervous to admit that to her father than she was to one day actually tell Kirk how she felt. She'd sat down with him and had a long conversation with her father about it. Surprisingly…despite his first exclamations of shock that they were together…he'd actually been expecting it to happen and was truly more surprised that it had taken them that long to see it happen than anything. According to him, he'd looked back as he was leaving the bar in Iowa when they'd recruited Kirk, and seen the two of them officially meeting for the first time and seen it. There was something in the way they looked at each other that had led him to think that the boy would one day be his son-in-law. In the end, she was just happy her father had accepted them.

"Forget about seniority, they gave us the newest ship in the Fleet!" Kirk cheered, "Who else are they going to send out?"

"I can think numerous the possibilities..." Spock began.

"I can list them," Victoria added.

"You guys, a five-year mission!" Kirk just went on, ignoring their thoughts that this might be a punishment more than a reward, "That's deep space, that's uncharted territories. Think how incredible that's going to be."

Victoria started to smile, but not at his excitement, more so at the fact that the two Cadets, now members of the Fleet, that he had flirted at just before the Kobayashi Maru test a long while ago had walked past.

And Kirk hadn't even batted an eye at them as he smiled at HER.

~8~

For however smiling Victoria was when they'd been heading to Pike's office, she frowned twice as much once they were inside it, standing before the man as he sat at his desk, a file in his hand as he perused it, "Uneventful."

"Admiral?" Kirk blinked, not sure what was uneventful.

"That's the way you describe the survey in Nibiru in Captain's Log," Pike looked up at him.

"Yes sir, I didn't want to waste your time going with the details."

Pike eyed him a long while, something Victoria knew from ample experience that he did when he wanted you to come clean about something without prompting, but, when Kirk remained silent, Pike continued, "Tell me more about this volcano. Data says was highly volatile. If it were to erupt, it would wipe out the planet."

Victoria closed her eyes a moment, working out what must have happened and decided she might as well dig her own grave, her being there meant he knew she was involved and had helped plan it and hadn't tried to stop it when she could, "It _could_ wipe the planet out," she agreed, "But volatility dies down at times. Doesn't look like it'll erupt."

"No, it doesn't," Pike frowned at her.

"Our data could have just been off," she shrugged.

"Or maybe it didn't erupt because Mr. Spock detonated a cold fusion device _you_ created inside it, right after a civilization that's barely invented the wheel, happened to see a Starship rising out their ocean on _Kirk's_ orders. That _is _pretty much how you describe it, is it not?" he looked at Spock.

"Admiral..." Spock began.

"You filed a report?" Kirk looked at him, betrayed.

"You _really_ thought he wouldn't?" Victoria scoffed.

She'd been afraid he'd do that. It was Vulcan nature. Spock had caught her once sabotaging one of the shuttles, making it so it couldn't take off. It was for a good reason though! Kirk had the insane idea that they'd be able to help another ship under attack by darting out there in a shuttle, past their enemies, and drawing the fire towards the shuttle instead. She'd HAD to secure it down and make sure it wouldn't go or Kirk would have gotten himself killed.

Spock had filed a report about that as well, but with Kirk and not Starfleet in general. And now she was cursing herself for not having kept an eye on the transmissions to the Headquarters to make sure Spock wasn't going to send a report to them. But, in all fairness, Kirk had distracted her.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kirk demanded of the Vulcan.

"I incorrectly assumed that you would be truthful in your Captain's Log," Spock stated flatly.

"Yeah," he scoffed, "I'd would've been if I didn't have to save your life after YOU defied the orders of the acting Captain at the time," he gestured back at Victoria, making her sigh and realize that was another reason she was probably there. It was HER device that they'd used and she HAD been captain the moment the two left the ship, meaning she could have easily ordered the mission aborted but hadn't.

"A fact for which I am immeasurably both grateful and guilty, and is the very reason I felt it necessary to take responsibility for the actions taken by..."

"Spock, just stop," Victoria shook her head, squeezing the bridge of her nose. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately, getting headaches from listening to Kirk and Spock argue. It wasn't the same as when SHE or Kirk argued, theirs was actually serious and non-understanding or comprehending where as hers and Kirk often learned from each other during it, "You're _not_ helping."

"Yeah," Kirk nodded, "Don't be so noble, Pointy, if you weren't also throwing me under the bus."

"Pointy?" Spock frowned, "Is that a derogative reference?"

"Gentlemen," Pike cut in, before glancing at Victoria, "Are they always like this?"

"Worse," she scoffed, "I've had to start taking migraine medicine," she grimaced.

Pike frowned at that, all too aware of his daughter's dislike for medicines of any kind, for her to have to resort to headache relief because of the two men was a testament to how badly they could argue and grate each other's nerves at times. And he highly doubted their arguments were as playful or light as the ones he'd seen Kirk engaging Victoria in.

"Starfleet's mandate is to explore and observe, _not_ to interfere," he continued.

"With all due respect sir," Victoria cut in, "If Spock and Sulu had listened to us, everything would have worked out just fine and the natives wouldn't have seen hide or hair of us."

"That's a technicality Tor," Pike pointed at her.

"I am Vulcan, sir," Spock at least made an effort to defend her argument, "We embrace technicality."

"You giving me attitude, Spock?" Pike narrowed his eyes at the Vulcan.

"I'm expressing multiple attitudes simultaneously, sir. To which you are referring?"

"Out," he pointed at the door, "You're dismissed," he waited till Spock stepped out of the room, the Vulcan hesitating a moment before going, and shut the door before he turned back to the humans.

"Let me guess," Victoria spoke before he could open his mouth, "You've never been more disappointed in us."

Pike offered her a small smile, "More the opposite really."

"What?" she blinked, NOT having expected that.

"I'm…_proud_ of you Tor," he told her, "The _both_ of you," he glanced at Kirk as well before looking at his daughter, "I'm proud of your concern for the natives, and I'm proud of your initiative, your plan, had it worked, would have been genius, your actions DID save numerous lives and, unlike with the Kobayashi Maru…this time you broke the rules to benefit others and not yourselves. So yes, I am VERY proud of you," he took a deep breath, "That being said…there are MASSIVE issues with the events surrounding Nibiru, decisions and actions that cannot be defended," he gave them both a hard look, glancing at Kirk, "Do you have any idea what a pain in the ass you are?"

"Victoria reminds me countless times of just how much sir," Kirk smirked.

Pike did his best not to smile at that, he was…happy to see that his daughter was able to hold her own against Kirk. He knew the boy was charming, confident, cocky, and also…commanding in presence. He'd been just a little concerned that Kirk would be too casual with his daughter, almost brushing her aside, or that he might (though it went against everything he knew of the boy) be using her to garner more favor with HIM. But when he'd seen them bickering, seen Victoria arguing with him, shooting back witty retorts, seen how…gentle and considerate Kirk was with her…and found out that they'd gotten together before he'd even realized what her last name was, he'd felt better about the situation. He could tell that Kirk cared a great deal for his daughter, and that meant the world to him.

"So, tell me what you did wrong," Pike challenged, sitting back down, "What's the lesson to be learned here?" he held up a hand, "Don't…say anything Tory."

He knew she'd work it out, had probably even told Kirk what was wrong with the plan after it had happened. He expected that of her, having been around him so long, growing up on ships all through the Fleet, being better acquainted with the rule book that probably even Spock was. He knew she'd work out the flaws in it all, the rules broken, but he wanted Kirk to learn it for himself.

"Never trust a Vulcan," Kirk said instantly.

"James," Victoria nudged him, "Be serious."

"You can't even answer the question," Pike sighed, before answering it for him, "You lied."

"I lie all the time," Kirk shrugged.

"You lied on an official report," Victoria told him, "That's ten times worse."

"You think the rules don't apply to you because you disagree with them…" Pike started.

"Victoria's the same way, sir," Kirk defended, Victoria nodding to that, she really was, "That's how she talked me into signing up in first place. And that's why YOU gave me your ship."

"I gave you my ship because I and my daughter saw a greatness in you...and now I see you haven't got an ounce of humility. I can't even ask her opinion anymore because she's biased in how smitten she is with you."

"Dad!" Victoria cried, horrified he'd bring that up into this, her cheeks starting to turn pink, but luckily Kirk didn't notice as he frowned at Pike, more offended by his words than his words about Victoria's opinion about him, all THAT told him was that he wasn't the only smitten party of this relationship.

"What was I supposed to do?" Kirk shook his head, "Let Spock die?"

"You're missing the point…"

"I don't think I am, sir. What would _you_ have done?"

"I would not have risked my First Officer's life in the first place!"

"So you agree you WOULD have tried to save the planet then," Victoria pointed out how he hadn't said he wouldn't have bothered trying to rescue the planet, only that he wouldn't have put his First Officer in a situation like that.

"I would NOT have," Pike tried to backtrack, but they could hear it in his voice, he'd slipped up just then. He sighed, "You were supposed to survey a planet, _not_ alter its destiny. You violated a dozen Star Fleet regulations that I KNOW Tory had to have cited to you in warning so you could probably come up with loopholes for each of them. But what's worse is that you almost got everyone under your command killed!"

"Technically they were under MY command while he was on the surface," Victoria defended, "Both he and Spock appointed me temporary captain while they were on mission."

"But he did return in time to make the final command to fly the Enterprise over a volcano," he countered.

"And no one got killed," Kirk cut in, "You know how many crew have I lost since…since I took command?"

"That's your problem," Pike turned back to him, "You think you're infallible…"

"Not one."

But Pike plowed on, "You think you can't make a mistake, it's a pattern with you. The rules are for other people."

"Some should be," Kirk agreed, but even Victoria had to shake her head at that, knowing that was the wrong thing to say. You could think it, sure, act like it, fine, but you didn't _ever_ admit it to a Fleet leader.

"And what's worse is you're using blind luck to justify you playing god," Pike shook his head, quietly admitting, "I AM proud of you James, Tory," he looked at them, "But given the circumstances, this was brought to Admiral Marcus's attention. He convened a special tribunal to which I was not invited…" he looked at them a long while, "You understand what Starfleet regulations mandate be done in this point?"

"Dad no," Victoria shook her head as Kirk frowned, realizing what her father was trying to delicately say without having to say it.

"I'm sorry Tor."

"What?" Kirk looked at her for explanation.

"When a captain is deemed unsuited or ill prepared for command…the Fleet takes the ship away from them," Victoria told him quietly, "And sends the captain back to the Academy for more preparation."

"Admiral, listen…" Kirk turned back to Pike, _not_ wanting that to happen, not wanting to lose the Enterprise…because Victoria had also said that they removed the CAPTAIN, no one else, to return to the Academy. If that happened…he'd lose his crew, but worse yet…he'd lose Victoria.

"No," Pike shook his head, "Why should I listen? You don't listen anybody but yourself! So I _can't_ listen. You don't comply with the rules, you don't take responsibility for anything, and you don't respect the chair. You know why...because you're not ready for it."

Kirk let out a breath, feeling like he'd been punched in the gut at that.

~8~

Victoria stepped into a bar, smiling slightly as she saw Kirk sitting at the bar, nursing some sort of alcohol, a woman sitting beside him, trying to make eyes with him, trying to catch his attention, but Kirk was oblivious. She smirked to herself as she walked over, sliding onto the stool beside him, shooting the woman a victorious look when Kirk immediately turned to her, as though sensing it was HER and not some other woman come to bother him. The woman rolled her eyes and got up, storming away as she waved after her.

"How did you find me?" Kirk asked her.

"I traced the tracker in your comm.," she shrugged, "Hacked right in and…I'm joking James," she laughed, seeing his eyes widen at the thought that she'd done all that, because to do so was considered a felony among the Fleet when not in a life or death situation, "I know you. You always come to bars like this when you're depressed. I always wondered why?" she looked at him, "You used to hang out at that bar in Iowa, yeah, but you said you'd just go there when you were bored. You didn't go to many bars in the Academy unless you were really in a sorry state…"

Kirk shrugged, "Every time I went, I knew you'd come after me because of that."

She blinked and started to smile, turning to the bartender, "One Cardassian sunrise," she called, the bartender moving away to go make the drink, "So you always came to these mopey little bars, because you thought I'd worry and run to check on you?"

"Worked like a charm," he grinned, taking a gulp of his drink and signaling to the bartender for another, "Was the only way I could get you alone half the time, just…us, no other Cadets, no Bones or Uhura, just…the two of us."

"You could have just asked me on a date," she remarked, nodding at the bartender as he brought back her drink.

"Would you have said yes?" he eyed her.

She paused, considering that, "For YOU…I might have."

He smiled at that, "First time we ever met was in a bar."

"When you got your ass handed to you on a silver platter," she cut in.

"No I didn't."

"You _so_ did. And I had to step in and save you…"

"That's _not_ what happened."

"Yes it is," she said sing-song, "You were a wreck James."

"I was not!"

"Oh really, so it was a fashion trend in Iowa to have wads of napkins sticking out of your bloody nose?"

"Alright, it was...quite a fight," Kirk sighed, starting to smile, "A _really_ good one," he looked at her a moment, "I think I fell for you the second Cupcake went down."

"What?" she laughed, that was the weirdest thing she'd ever heard him say.

"Not my fault," he shrugged defensively, "Any girl who can take out a grown man twice her size with one punch is _not_ someone you let go of."

"I nearly broke my hand because of that," she pointed at him, "Swore I'd never do that for you again."

He grinned widely, "And yet you punched Spock, didn't you? For the same reason?"

She rolled her eyes, "And I learned from my mistake when I _really_ broke my hand that time. NOT going to happen again James. You get in a fight, you're on your own."

"I feel so warm and fuzzy at your concern," he remarked dryly.

"Good," she smirked, nudging him, "You better."

He let out a long breath, taking the last sip of his drink, "So…why'd you come after me this time?" he asked.

"There's um…something you need to know. Spock and…and I, we both got notices."

"For what?" he frowned.

"Reassignment," she told him, "But…it was conditional."

"How so?"

"Spock and I, since I was a part of the whole fiasco in making the bomb and Spock was the one to go down with it…we were both reassigned. Spock's going to the USS Bradbury, and I'm heading to the USS Constitution."

"And what was the condition behind it?" last he heard, only HE was being punished, not them.

"You get reassigned back to the Enterprise instead of the Academy, as dad's First Officer. They gave the Enterprise back to him and he argued you back into the crew."

"What, by kicking you out?!" Kirk nearly shouted, outraged for her, "You're his daughter!"

"And it's rare for family to serve on the same ship as it is unless is a married couple," she reminded him, "With all the probations and detainments in the Academy, there was hardly a chance we'd be allowed to serve on the same ship as it was. If I didn't have any marks against me at all, there would be a better chance for me and dad to be on the same ship in a service capacity. It was either he gets captain, or I stay as a liaison, and liaisons are easier to come by than captains."

"So you're out…and I'm back in?" he shook his head, "How is that fair?"

"It's not," she shrugged, "Dad made a good case for you, told Admiral Marcus that he believed in you and that you deserved a second chance. The rest was just Marcus's conditions."

"I don't know what to say Tory…" he breathed.

She reached out and put a hand on his, "There's nothing to say Jim," she told him, "Eventually we'll all make our way back to each other. I am…very possessive of my things, I'm not about to let you go."

He smiled at that, "I'm not going to let you go either," he reached out and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, "I…Victoria I…if I'm going to be stuck on the Enterprise without you, there's…there's something I need you to know before you go to the Constitution."

"What?" she tilted her head, inadvertently leaning into his touch.

He smiled, taking a breath, "I think I might…I mean, I know that I l..." he closed his eyes and let out a frustrated breath when the comm. in his pocket went off.

"Get it," she nodded, "You can't risk anymore marks on your record either."

Kirk sighed, running a hand through his hair, frustrated, but knowing she was right, so he picked up the comm. and looked at the message on it, "An emergency session at the Daystrom," he frowned.

She nodded, "We should go."

He nodded as well, starting to get up, only to pause, "WE?"

She smiled, "Apparently, Spock's report against you also contained a 'glowing' report about my five minutes as acting Captain," she rolled her eyes, "I've been assigned as the First Officer on the Constitution."

"I'm sorry," he whispered, knowing that she _didn't_ like the captain and commanding roles, she'd spent her life preparing for a path in engineering, and now, just because of who her father was, she was being pushed into the commanding positions. He understood now why she hadn't wanted anyone to know Pike was her father, they seemed to expect her to suddenly follow in his footsteps and be a captain instead of realizing she was meant for engineering.

"Me too," she shrugged, "At least we get a little bit longer together though."

He smiled and took her hand, the two of them heading out to get ready for the meeting.

~8~

Victoria and Kirk walked through Daystrom only an hour later, both of them in their uniforms from that morning, "Damn it," Kirk muttered, spotting Spock across the room and heading towards them.

"I told you he was reassigned to the Bradbury," Victoria reminded him.

"Captain!" Spock called, pushing his way through the crowd as they reached the lift.

"Not anymore, Spock," Kirk sighed, "First Officer," he gestured at himself and Victoria, "The both of us, because of you. I was demoted, and you and Victoria were resigned," he swallowed hard at that, he just…he'd barely been away from Victoria for longer than a class period in the last four years.

Their relationship was still so new, they'd barely been going together a year…something that had won Uhura quite a lot of money in a pool apparently. They weren't sure who had started it, but there had actually been a pool going around for how long they'd stay together. Most bet on a few months, those who knew Kirk's exploits by reputation but didn't know him personally and his relationship and friend ship with Victoria. Others bet a little longer, almost a year but not quite, mostly because Victoria was not a girl they could see someone giving up easily. Bones had voted for two days…though when they found that out he'd said it was because he'd honestly thought one of them was going to murder the other in that time, so it wasn't that he'd actually bet they'd break up. Uhura was the only one who had bet that it would last longer than a year, just how long they didn't know. Spock, as shocking as it was to learn from Uhura, would have probably won if he'd actually officially participated instead of making an off comment to Uhura about it.

He'd said that he suspected they would become one of the best teams, perhaps partners, in the Fleet, and that he doubted they would separate 'until death do they part' as the humans would say. Uhura had been shocked to hear that Spock apparently thought they would get married one day, having thought that sort of thing wouldn't be something that a Vulcan would concern himself with. But his words had been enough for her to bet longer than a year, that and she knew how much Victoria had actually liked Kirk despite the fights. They were both now suspicious that Spock might have met his future self at one point, it would explain why he'd decided to stay with the Fleet instead of help his people rebuild on the New Vulcan colony.

"It is fortunate that the consequences were not more severe," Spock remarked.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Kirk muttered.

"Spock…look at it from this point of view," Victoria added, "YOU and Uhura…won't see each other again for a _very_ long time."

Spock blinked, as though he hadn't considered that part of it all. If he really had been reassigned to the Bradbury...Uhura wouldn't give up the Enterprise, the best ship in the Fleet, for the Bradbury nor would he want her to. He looked between Kirk and Victoria, as though realizing they were in the same boat as him, "Captain, it was never my intention to..."

"_Not_ Captain," Kirk rubbed a hand down his face, "I saved your life Spock. You wrote a report, I lost my ship and now I won't get to see my girlfriend except on messages for who knows how long."

"Commander," Spock amended, "I see now I should have alerted to the fact that I submitted the report."

"Spock, you should see now that you never should have _written_ the report in the first place," Victoria cut in, "Did you see any other member of the crew_ that_ concerned that they felt they had to draw up a report on their Captain?"

Spock's mouth turned down in the corners at that, no…no one else BUT him had thought to write a report on the situation.

"Look, I'm familiar with your compulsion to follow the rules," Kirk added, "But, see Victoria and I, we can't do that. Where we come from, if someone saves your life you don't stab them in the back."

"Vulcans cannot not lie."

"Then I'm talking to the half-human part of you. Right? Do you understand why I went back for you?"

But before the Vulcan could answer, the lift doors opened and an older black gentleman was standing there waiting for them, "Commander Spock?" he glanced at Spock, "I'm Frank Abbott, USS Bradbury. Guess you're with me."

Spock hesitated for a moment, not wanting to openly call someone else his captain, "Yes, Captain."

Kirk just shook his head and stepped out of the lift, Victoria sighing, "You know…I think he's actually going to miss you," she told the Vulcan, "I think we both will."

Or at least…they'd miss the Spock they hoped he might one day be, the Spock that had cared about them both so much on Delta Vega, the Spock that had been a true friend. He was on his way, but this…she hoped this wouldn't derail all the progress Spock had made in truly becoming a part of the crew, of the family, instead of the aloof and distant Commander.

A/N: Oh boy...we all know what might be coming next :'(

Some notes on reviews...

Yup, Victoria got in trouble both because she was the leader in making the cold fusion device and also because she was acting captain for a little bit :(


	3. Loss

Loss

Victoria looked across the table as she sat next to one of the older men, making her groan inwardly. The Captain of the USS Constitution was a…rather severe man, almost worse than a Vulcan when it came to the rules if that were even possible. She was just oh-so thrilled to have been assigned as his First Officer…it was going to be hell, she could tell. She glanced over, catching sight of Kirk beside her father, the boy offering her a small nod and a sad smile for her distance from him. This meeting, sitting there beside their respective Captains…it made it real, it just made it all the more solid to know that they were going to be separated after this meeting, that they already were separated and this was like a formality to prove it or something.

"Admiral Marcus, Sir," they both looked over, hearing Frank Abbott greet the stern looking man as he approached the table, all of them rising in respect.

"Thank you for convening on such short notice," Marcus nodded at them, gesturing at the table, "Be seated," he sat with them, letting out a breath and turning on the monitors set up before them all, displaying the information about why they were there, "By now some of you heard what happened in London," they frowned at that, they were well aware that there had been some sort of explosion in London, dozens of people had died when the archive went down but no one knew what had caused it or why it had happened, "The target was a Starfleet Data Archive. Now it's a damn hole in the ground. 42 men and women are dead. One hour ago, I received a message from a Starfleet officer," the young black man popped up on their monitors along with his information, "Who confessed to carrying out this attack, that he was being forced to do it by this man," another image replaced his, of a what man with black hair and blue eyes, he had high cheekbones and pale skin, his face very angular and sharp, "Commander John Harrison. He's one of our own," Victoria let out a low whistle at that, cutting it off quickly when her father sent her a look and shifting without looking up at the others sitting there, probably frowning at her by now, "And he is the man responsibility for this act of savagery," Marcus said that last part more firmly and Victoria could tell two things, the first was that he was sending her a look for her whistle as well, and the second was that Kirk was likely smirking at her for it by now, "For reasons unknown, John Harrison has just declared a one man war against Starfleet. Under no circumstances are we to allow this man to escape Federation space. You here tonight represent the senior command of all the vessels in the region. And in the name of those we lost...you will run this bastard down. This is a manhunt, pure and simple so let's get to work."

Victoria shifted again at that, it didn't…seem right. She understood that it was a terrible crime, truly savage as Marcus had said but…the way he was talking, it didn't sit right with her. It sounded like it really was going to be a HUNT and not just them trying to apprehend the man. Starfleet regulations were very clear about dealing with someone like Harrison and it just felt like Marcus was taking this all a little too far.

"Earth's perimeter sensors has not detected any warp signatures leaving the system," Marcus continued, "So we know he can't be far. You will park ships at blockade formation and deploy search vehicles and landing parties to run down every lead. This man has shown a willingness to kill innocent people so rules of engagement are simple, if you come across this man you are authorized to use deadly force on the subject."

"Deadly force, sir?" Victoria had to ask, hearing Kirk whispering about something to her father, something about Harrison's bag. There were images on the monitors now of the bombsite, of Harrison leaving with a bag in his hand.

"Yes, Officer Pike," Marcus looked at her.

"But Starfleet Regulations state that deadly force is ONLY to be used after being attacked by the subject, not before," the way he'd said it made it seem like they were meant to attack Harrison first and foremost and use the deadly force instead of just knocking him out. The way he said it made it seem like they were meant to use that force before he even had a chance to react. To say that 'if they came across him' was not the same to say that if they were 'engaging' the subject.

"I think you, of all people, Officer Pike, should be the LAST person to quote rules and regulations," Marcus's eyes narrowed at her.

"I have to know the rules to know which one's I'm breaking, don't I?" she shot back.

"Tory," her father called across the table, a firm note in his voice that told her to 'knock it off.'

"Doesn't it seem odd to you that he targeted an archive?" she could hear Kirk whispering in the silence that fell afterwards, "It's like bombing a…a library."

"Chris," Marcus rolled his eyes, looking over at Captain Pike this time, "Is everything ok there?" he was honestly starting to question Pike and his decisions near the end of his recruiting run. Here were two of his own recruits, one the boy he kept defending till he was red in the face and the other his own daughter, both having been written up for disregarding the prime directive, them and their First Officer all having been reassigned and demoted for their actions. That didn't engender trust in Pike's choices, especially not when said daughter just talked back to him and his own First Officer was whispering behind their backs.

"Yes, sir," Pike nodded, "Mr. Kirk is just acclimating to his new position as First Officer."

Victoria frowned though, she'd heard what Kirk had said and…it WAS suspicious that Harrison, if he was one of their own, would attack an archive. It wasn't just like a library, it was more a museum too…it was old and ancient and there was no reason to really blow one up. All the information there was public record, the people who worked there no higher up in the Fleet's command than the average civilian and wouldn't have any access to secret information and wouldn't need to be targeted…it really didn't make sense.

"If you have something to say, Kirk, say it," Marcus called, "Tomorrow is too late."

"I'm fine sir," Kirk said instead, seeing a look from Pike, "My apologies."

Victoria nearly rolled her eyes at that. Her father would listen to anything in private, discuss anything, hear our concerns and make decisions that way, even tell them how proud he was that they'd broken rules. But when he was in front of others, especially other Fleet officials, he had to be the rule-abiding Captain and the one in control of his crew. He'd already had three of his former crew (one of them being his daughter) 'shame' him with how thoroughly they'd broken the rules, and he'd had two of them speaking out against Marcus just now. He had to appear that he had control over his First Officer at least. He'd listen to Kirk after the meeting, she knew, hear him out, but right now he needed Kirk to be seen and not heard.

Unfortunately Marcus was the sort of man where if someone was going to defy him or whisper behind him, he wanted to bring it to the forefront, "Spit it out son, don't be shy."

Kirk sighed, seeing no option but to speak out, whether it was to follow his Captain's orders or the one who called the meeting, it would have to be the meeting's organizer than his Captain, "Why the Archive? All that information is public record...if he really wanted to damage Starfleet…this could be just the beginning."

Victoria stiffened at that, she hadn't thought of that. For a moment she thought that it might just be someone trying to make a point, to show…displeasure with the Fleet or something. She hadn't considered what Kirk was implying. An attack on the Archive…it might have just been the first step in some sort of plan. And if THAT was the case…she could guess what the second step might be.

Attacking something related to the Fleet meant that an immediate meeting would be held to discuss it and try to come up with ways to protect other areas of the Fleet that were similar to the one attacked. And if someone attacked the post knowing that…then they knew exactly where the meeting would be held…right there, right then.

"Beginning of what, Mr. Kirk?" Marcus frowned, clearly not able to understand Kirk the way Victoria was, but then again…she'd said it when they'd first met, they were quite a like in how they thought and how they acted.

"Starfleet regulations state that should an attack occur, the senior officers father in Starfleet Headquarters," Victoria recited, seeing the smallest of smiles on her father's face for her memory of the rules. That had always been one thing he'd always been proud of when it came to her.

She knew every rule, every regulation, every code that the Fleet operated on. She'd spent hours, days, weeks memorizing every single one of them. He was even proud of the reason she'd done it too, which had surprised her. According to him, she showed ingenuity, resourcefulness, creativity, and logic in doing what she had. She knew every rule backwards and forwards because then she could argue against them, she could find loopholes, different ways to interpret them. She knew which rules to avoid, which rules could be stretched, which rules were so laughable that they deserved to be broken so that they could be tightened up.

The first time she'd been caught breaking the rules, he'd been so angry at her, he'd stormed into her hearing, thinking he'd have to try and use his name and rank (something he was loathe to do) to get her out of trouble, only to stop short at seeing her defend herself and go through rule after rule after rule. He hadn't even known that some of the rules actually countered other regulations till he'd heard her dismantle the prosecution and contradict them. It had been a sight to behold, according to him, to see her standing there and using the Fleet's own rules against them. He'd been both proud and sad, he'd admitted to her later, because he was proud she could defend herself like that, but sad because it meant that was one more thing she wouldn't need his help for, that she wouldn't need HIM for. She'd hugged him and told him she'd always need her father.

"And Starfleet's Headquarters," Kirk added, "Is right here. In this room," he slowly got up and started to walk around the room, looking at it critically, Victoria stiffening more as she watched him, knowing he was looking for some sort of bomb like the one that had taken out the archive.

"It _is_ curios Harrison would commandeer a jump ship without warp capability..." Spock agreed.

Kirk stopped in front of a large window, frowning out as he saw a light approaching them, his eyes widening as he realized what it was, "Clear the room!" he shouted, turning and running back, throwing himself at Victoria the second she stood like the others had and tackled her to the ground, covering her as the glass shattered behind him, bullets and lasers flying into the room as they were attacked.

"We need air defense team!" they heard Pike shout into a comm., a handful of the other Captains and Officers already lying dead on the ground from the volley of fire, "Daystrom conference room!"

Victoria looked around, seeing one of the fallen Captains and grabbed their phaser from their belt, turning onto her back to fire at whatever it was that was attacking them, though it seemed like some sort of shuttle firing at them.

"I'm gonna try and get around it!" Kirk called to her over the sound of the attack.

"Go!" she pushed him on, "I'll cover you!"

Kirk nodded, grabbing another Captain's gun as he ran out of the room, Victoria moving to her knees and firing, trying to draw the fire away from Kirk as he rushed out. She glanced over for only a moment when she heard Spock shout.

"Captain Pike!"

Victoria felt like she'd been punched in the gut when she saw her father fall to the ground, having been hit by one of the lasers, "Dad!" she screamed, trying to make her way across the room, needing to get to him but the firing still happening made it hard. She could vaguely see shots being fired at the shuttle from the side, pulling its direction away from the room that was now nearly full of corpses and groaning men, and towards it instead. Spock was already at Pike's side and pulling him out of the room to protect him should the fire return, Victoria pushing herself to her feet to run, ducking and wincing as her move seemed to draw the fire back, but she didn't stop, she had to get to her father.

She was panting by the time she reached the hall, "Dad!" she gasped, seeing him lying on a small bench, Spock beside him with his hand to the man's temple, Mind Melding with him. Her heart pounded in her chest as she dropped her phaser and ran for him, dropping to her knees beside him and grabbing his hand, "Dad," he turned his head to look at her, moving it out of Spock's touch, and she felt tears gather in her eyes a the sight of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth, matching the blood pouring from the wound on his chest, "I'm sorry…"

He tried to talk but ended up coughing, his eyes wide as he looked at her, squeezing her hand weakly, his grip getting looser, "No," she shook her head, trying not to sob, "Dad, don't go, please…"

But she could see it through her tears, the fear entering his eyes as the life left them.

She flinched, looking back as there was an explosion and a crash from outside, the shuttle that had been attacking clearly taken out now, but pulled her attention back to her father in a split second, feeling his grip loosen too much.

She let out shaking breath, "I love you dad," she whispered, her voice breaking, NEEDING that to be what he heard…before his head lulled to the side, his eyes staring unseeingly out at the ceiling.

Victoria remained strong for only a moment before she crumbled before Spock's very eyes, the Vulcan watching her completely lost as to what to do to help her as she sobbed in front of him, clutching her father's hand in her own, shaking and hardly able to breathe. Her face scrunched in pain as the tears fell, her mouth falling into a wide grimace as she wept yet she refused to let go of Pike's hand even as she bowed her head.

Spock had just reached out to close the man's eyes…when Kirk ran around the corner.

"Oh my god," Kirk breathed, Spock able to hear him even above Victoria's cries, "Tory!" he ran to her side, pulling her into his arms as she wept, shivering and shaking, him trying to rock her back and forth to calm her. He wound an arm around her, his other hand brushing through her hair before curling in it, holding her head to his chest as he tried to comfort her.

Spock could see it though, see how Kirk looked at Pike's body over her head, his eyes filling with tears he knew Kirk would refuse to let fall as he stared at their fallen Captain. No, their friend. Pike wasn't just a Captain to Kirk, Spock knew, he was like a second father to the man, even more so after he'd learned of his daughter's relationship with Kirk. He was also Kirk's friend, his recruiter, the reason he had the life and future he did…he was, as he knew from his future-self, Kirk's father-in-law as well, even if he was not actually that in this universe he was as good as though.

And now the man was gone, leaving a heartbroken daughter and a stunned First Officer.

"It's ok Tor," Kirk whispered in Victoria's ear as he rocked her, for the first time not knowing if he was lying to her or not, "It'll be ok," pulling his gaze away from Pike, though the tears remained, he swallowed hard, trying not to cry, trying to be strong for her, because where he'd lost so much in the man…

Victoria had lost a father.

~8~

Kirk was staring at the ceiling as he laid in his bed, on Earth, his right arm wrapped around Victoria as she curled up beside him, her head resting on his chest, staring at his wall, her eyes still red though she wasn't crying at the moment. He was holding her light hand as it rested on his chest with his left, his right hand was running up and down her back soothingly as she just…stared. Both of them were silent, having stayed awake all night just lying there, still awake even now as the sun rose, it had been…a long night.

Yesterday was the funeral for all those who had died in Harrison's attack, it had been confirmed it was Harrison, Kirk had seen him when he'd taken out the man's shuttle. It had been hard for all involved, all the Cadets and officers and commanders, everyone who had ever been recruited or served under Pike had attended his funeral, everyone...excpet for his ex-wife it seemed, her own mother hadn't attended, which he knew both relieved her and broke her heart at the same time. Victoria had been quiet the entire day, so unlike her, but then again so had he, standing at her side, holding her hand so tightly both their knuckles had nearly turned white but they said nothing about it. She hadn't cried in front of the others, he knew she hated crying, so she'd stood as stoic as she could, but he could see there were tears in her eyes and only through sheer force of will was she able to keep them in.

She'd cried in front of him though, the moment they returned to his room, their room he insisted to think of it. She'd cried in his arms, everything getting to her and he'd done his best to comfort her, she'd returned the favor, able to see, even through her own grief that HE was hurting too. Both of them felt guilty, they'd both been trying to stop Harrison and hadn't been able to protect Pike in the process, they both blamed themselves for his death, but more so…they blamed Harrison.

"Thank you."

Kirk looked down, hearing the hoarse whisper coming from the girl, "For what?" he honestly couldn't think of anything she needed to thank him for.

"Being here," she took a shaky breath, "For…staying," she blinked but didn't move beyond that, "I know you aren't very good when girls cry."

He was abysmal when they cried. He had no idea what to do when it happened, what to say, how to act, and often ended up making it worse or getting slapped or getting kicked out. She often used to laugh at him for it, how many flubs he could make in the span of a minute when the girls started crying. But last night, and the time before when it had happened, he'd been so…different than he usually was, it was like he just…knew what to do to help comfort her. She liked to think it was because he cared about her more than the other girls who came before her and it was more important to him that SHE stop being sad and he be the one to make her happy again, but she knew it might just be because he'd known her longer than the others, he knew what she was like and what it took to get her to feel better.

"You not just a girl Tory," he murmured, looking down at her, "You're MY girl," she looked up at him for that and he moved his hand from her back to her hair, stroking it a moment before pushing a strand behind her ear, "It's different."

Victoria had just started to truly smile at that, when the comm. went off and she dropped her forehead onto his chest, shaking her head, "They couldn't even give me 12 hours?" she mumbled into his chest, making him twitch at the ticklish sensation.

He pushed himself up and reached over for the comm., "Yeah?" he called into it.

"Commander," Spock's voice sounded after a moment, clearly having expected Victoria to answer her own comm., "Mr. Scott has found something in wreckage of Harrison's ship, he's asked to see us right away."

Kirk sighed and turned the comm. off, looking down at Victoria, "We should go," he told her gently.

She nodded, getting up, feeling a flash of anger rise in her at the mention of Harrison, she knew what it was, the shock…was starting to wear off.

She honestly wasn't sure what emotion would follow.

~8~

Spock looked up as he stood by Scotty, seeing Victoria and Kirk walking towards them across the small courtyard outside the housing where the Fleet members often resided when staying on Earth. Both were wearing their black mourning outfits, Kirk in a long black shirt and pants, Victoria in her long-sleeved black uniform, but with black leggings along with her black boots.

"Victoria," Scotty began, for once not using some sort of silly name for her as he stepped over to her and hugged her tightly with one arm, ignoring how Kirk didn't let go of her other hand so she could hug him back fully, "I am…SO sorry lass," he pulled away, looking at her, "Pike was a good man," even though HE hadn't served under the man, he and Victoria did talk whenever she worked with him in engineering, he knew about Pike and he WAS a good man.

"Thank you Scotty," Victoria murmured, stepping back as Kirk tugged her closer, moving his arm around her waist in comfort.

"What did you want to see us for?" Kirk looked at him, running his thumb along Victoria's side to comfort her more, they both knew it would just be worse wherever she went, whatever crew she ended up a part of, there would be hundreds more people offering her condolences but the only difference would be…he wouldn't be there to comfort her when they did.

"Right," Scotty nodded, "Captain, I found this in the crashed jump ship, sir," he held up a small device to show them, "_This_ is how the bastard got away."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a portable transwarp beaming device."

Victoria blinked a few times and shook her head, going through the implications and schematics of such a thing, "A_ portable_ one?"

"Aye," Scotty nodded.

"Can you figure out where he went?" Kirk looked at Scotty seriously.

"I already did, sir, and you are _not_ going to like it. He's gone to the one place we…we just can't go."

~8~

The second Scotty told them exactly where Harrison had gone, Victoria had looked down, completely hopeless…the Klingon Homeworld was…truly a place they couldn't go. It was too dangerous, too reckless, and it could mean bigger consequences than anyone was prepared for and Kirk could see it in her eyes, she felt like she couldn't ask anyone to risk going there for her just so she could see the bastard who killed her father taken down.

Oh she'd raged last night about Harrison, screamed about how she felt like she'd betrayed her father because she'd been thinking that Marcus was going to have people attacking Harrison before he attacked others and she'd actually thought that _wrong_. And there he was, attacking again, showing no compassion for human life, and her father had died with her thinking that Marcus was wrong to authorize deadly force upon just seeing the man. Her father was dead and Harrison was alive and she wanted revenge, he could see it as she cried, she wanted to take out the man who took her father…

And now that entire hope of seeing Harrison brought down was being taken away from her. The Klingon Homeworld? It was impossible to get to Harrison there and that meant her father would go unavenged, Harrison would be left at large till he attacked again and more people would die, and her heart would keep beating broken. No one in their right mind would go there on such a mission.

It was a good thing though, that one James T. Kirk was not in his right mind…because the girl he cared for more than anything was hurting, and all he could think about was making it stop and seeing her smile again.

And if that meant going to Kronos to hunt Harrison down…he'd do it.

He'd do anything for her.

"Admiral sir," Kirk ran into the headquarters once more, seeing Marcus and a few other men, those who would be taking over for the men who had died, gathered to go over how to deal with Harrison again. He and Victoria and Spock had not been required to attend as they had been there the other night. He'd taken off the second Scotty had told them about Kronos, the moment he'd seen the look on Victoria's face at the impossibility of getting Harrison, he'd taken off and run for the headquarters, Spock and Victoria running after him, "He is not on Earth. He's on Kronos, sir. I request my command to be reinstated and your permission to go after him."

Marcus looked at the other men behind him, "Give us a minute," he waved the other men out, waiting till they'd left before focusing on Kirk again, "Kronos?"

"Yes, sir," he nodded.

Marcus let out a long breath, "So Harrison's gone to the Klingon home world? Is he defecting?"

"We're not sure, sir."

"He has taking refuge in the Keth province," Spock added, "A region uninhabited..."

"He got to be hiding there, sir," Kirk cut in, not willing to sit there and listen to a lecture about the geography of Kronos by the Vulcan, time was far too precious, the longer they took the longer Harrison would be out there and the longer Victoria would be suffering.

"He went there because he knows we can't follow," Victoria said quietly, speaking for the first time since Scotty told them where Harrison had gone, her voice cracked at that, at the knowledge that the man who murdered her father might never be captured because of where he was, "Of course," she gave a bitter laugh, "We take a single step into Klingon space and…war," she shook her head, "Starfleet can't go after him."

"But _I_ can," Kirk took her hand, squeezing it as he looked at her, promising her with that single gesture that he'd get Harrison, he'd stop the man, he would do…whatever it took to bring the man down. He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand, reassuring her that he WOULD see Harrison taken out, before he turned to Marcus, "_Please_, sir."

He had to do it. He HAD to. Pike meant too much to him and Victoria to just…let his killer go free.

"War with the Klingons is inevitable," Marcus thought out loud, "No matter what we do, Miss Pike," he hesitated, seeing her wince, even though it was her name, to hear it said out loud…he knew it made her think of her father, of course it would, "They will always look for any excuse to attack. Harrison just BEING there is reason enough for them," he shook his head, "War has already has begun. Since we first learned of their existence, the Klingon Empire has conquered and occupied two planets that we know of, fired on our ships half a dozen times. They _are _coming our way," he glanced at the three of them standing before him and took a breath, needing them to know the truth, the girl especially deserved to know given it was her father who had died in the crossfire of it all, "London was _not_ an archive. It was top secret branch of Starfleet designated to…"

"Section 31," Victoria cut in, startling Marcus, making the two other men look at her, "You really think I didn't hack in to find out why Harrison targeted that? Why he wanted us to be there?" she shook her head, "He could have picked ANY archive on Earth and we would have gathered there regardless. Why THAT one?" she looked at him, "It was one of your secret development facilities too, wasn't it?"

Marcus nodded, though Spock could see the man tense as though he hadn't been expecting (or aware it was possible for) her to hack into their files, "They were developing defense technologies, training our officers to gather intelligence on Klingons, and any other potential enemy who means to do us harm. Harrison was one of our top agents."

"Now he's a fugitive," Kirk nodded, "And I want to _take him out_."

Spock looked at Kirk, hearing a distinct growl in the man's voice, spotting Kirk's grip on Victoria's hand tightening.

Marcus looked at Kirk a long while, "Pike always said you were one of our best and brightest. You should have heard him defend you," before his gaze drifted to Victoria, his expression softening as he saw the hard look her face had set into, the determined glint in her eyes as she heard Kirk talking about taking Harrison out, seeing the…hope in her eyes that it might happen, "And you…" he shook his head at her, "You are, and always will be, his pride and joy Victoria," he tried to keep his voice steady as he saw the tears gathering in her eyes, an unbearable guilt settling in his stomach the longer he looked at her, "You were…his entire world, the Fleet always came second to you."

Victoria looked down at that, Kirk moving his arm around her instead of holding her hand, reaching up to brush her hair behind her ear, her leaving it down for once instead of in her bun. He leaned over and tilted her towards him, pressing a gentle kiss to her temple, Spock and Marcus looking away as Victoria turned her head to rest her forehead to his, her eyes closing for a moment to gather her strength, both men feeling like they were intruding on a private, intimate moment.

Marcus cleared his throat, the two of them looking over at him once more, "He's the one you both joined the Fleet for, wasn't he?"

"Yes, sir," Kirk answered as Victoria could only nod.

"Did he ever tell you who talked him into joining?"

"You," Victoria answered, "You were like a father to him."

Marcus closed his eyes at that, barely containing his wince to hear that said out loud, "Recruiters and Cadets tend to end up like that," he stated, Spock frowning as it sounded more like something Marcus was saying to convince himself than something he was trying to not let affect him, "But it doesn't change that his death is on me," he looked at them again, "And yours_ can't_ be."

"Admiral Marcus please," Victoria began, sounding desperate, seeing their opportunity to avenge her father fading away, "You…"

But Marcus held up his hand to quiet her, before glancing at Spock, "Mr. Spock, you said that the province where Harrison is hiding was uninhabited?"

"Affirmative, sir," Spock nodded.

"As part of our defensive strategy, 31 developed a new photon torpedo," Marcus told them, "Long range, untraceable. It will be invisible to Klingon sensors. I _don't_ want you hurt," he looked specifically at Victoria, then Kirk, "But I want to take him out," he agreed, "You park on the edge of the Neutral Zone, you lock on to Harrison's position, you fire, you kill him and haul ass."

Kirk nodded at that, hearing Victoria breathe a sigh of relief from beside him, "Permission to restate Mr. Spock as my First Officer and Victoria as my Engineering Liaison."

"Granted," Marcus answered promptly.

Victoria closed her eyes for only a moment at that, at having been given permission to do this. She knew it was against the rules and regulations to do what Marcus was telling them but…this was her father. Her father as dead because of Harrison. She was no stranger to breaking the rules, usually for the most trivial things.

But not this time.

This time…to hell with the rules, she was going to find the man who murdered her father and kill him if it was the last thing she did.

A/N: Poor, poor Tory :'( Poor Kirk :( This chapter killed me to write :( I think I'm almost afraid for Khan having TWO people after him who break the rules }:) I can say though that there'll be quite a few changes in events because...Kirk was fighting to go after Khan for his captain...just imagine what Victoria will do to avenge her _father_ }:)

Some notes on reviews...

No worries, Victoria was reassigned, I couldn't keep her away from Kirk for too long ;) But I did have to lose Pike :( I really feel like half the things Kirk did to get to Khan was driven only by the fact that Pike died and without it he wouldn't have been willing to risk half of what he did :(

I couldn't put Pike in a coma, no :( With the chance of recovery or even just being injured, I don't think Kirk would have reacted like he did or been so driven to get Khan. The death was a trigger for the events of the movie so I felt like I had to keep it. And...it would be a major factor in seeing the difference between what Kirk is willing to do for his fallen captain and what Victoria is willing to do for her father }:)


	4. Re-Engineering

Re-Engineering

Bones rushed through the hanger of the Fleet Headquarters, having spotted Kirk and Victoria storming through, both of them looking like they were on a mission of some sort, "Vicky!" he made his way behind them, "Jim. Where were you two? I mean I KNOW where Vick was…" that woman's dislike of the medbay and the rest of his team would be the death of her one day if she kept refusing to get treated and checked out whenever she was ill or hurt.

"For what?" Kirk barely paused in his stride.

"Your medical exams," Bones rolled his eyes, "You were at damn fire-fight! Now it's my duty to..."

"We're fine," Victoria cut in.

Bones scoffed at that, she always said that, she could be bleeding with her bone sticking out of her skin ready to pass out and she'd swear to god that she was 'fine' as though anyone would believe her, "The hell you are."

"Look," Kirk spun around to face him as Victoria headed into the shuttle first, "We're fine," he told the man, before dropping his voice, "Just…leave it Bones, for once just…leave it."

"Jim you can't ask me not to worry about the two of you," Bones frowned at him, "Not only are you my crew, you're my friends, you're…like a brother to me."

Kirk let out a breath, "You are too," he admitted, "But…" he glanced back at the shuttle, "We just can't deal with this right now, ok?"

Bones's jaw tensed at that, "Fine, no medbay."

Kirk nodded, turning to follow Victoria into the shuttle, not seeing Bones pull out a portable scanner, he may have promised no medbay…didn't mean he couldn't bring the medbay to them.

"Status report, Mr. Spock," Bones heard Kirk call as he entered the shuttle, seeing Victoria sitting one seat beside the aisle, Kirk in between her and Spock with Spock near the window. He could guess the sitting pattern reasons. None of them would have been in Daystrom if it hadn't been for Spock's report, no…that wasn't true, Kirk and Spock would have been the only ones there if Spock had never sent the report in. The only reason Pike had been reassigned as Captain had been because of Kirk being dismissed, the only reason Pike was in Daystrom was because he was the Captain.

Kirk would have always been there, if the report hadn't been sent, Spock would have been there too and he knew that Victoria firmly believed, given that they'd both survived the attack, that they'd have survived then as well. The only difference would have been her father wouldn't have been there to get shot, and she wouldn't have been there to watch him die in front of her.

He sighed, moving to sit on the row behind them, if he sat on Victoria's other side, he wouldn't be able to reach Kirk to check him out either, but sitting behind them and turning around would let him examine them both properly.

"The Enterprise should be ready for launch by the time we arrive," Spock assessed.

"Good, good," Kirk reached out to take Victoria's hand as he sat back, squeezing it, running his thumb on the back of it.

"Captain," Spock continued, "Thank you requesting my reinstatement."

"You're welcome," Kirk glanced over when he felt Victoria squeeze his hand to see Bones was trying to scan her.

"Bones get that thing out of my face or I swear to god I will bite you," Victoria warned.

"As I am again your First Officer," Spock went on, not seeming to notice what Bones was doing, "It is now my duty to strongly object our mission perimeters."

"Of course it is," he muttered...only to laugh when Bones let out a rather unmanly scream and pulled his hand back, rubbing his wrist where Victoria really HAD bit him, "She warned you," he shrugged at the doctor.

"There is no Starfleet regulation that condemns a man to die without a trial, something you, Admiral Marcus, and surprisingly Victoria are forgetting."

"Oh I'm not forgetting anything Spock," Victoria cut in, "I am WELL aware of the rules and regulations. I am choosing to ignore them."

Spock frowned at that, he knew that Kirk and Victoria seemed to have a penchant for doing just that but…her tone indicated it was not for a joking or justified reason, justified in the sense that it was for the greater good and not revenge, "You would do well to remember though, that preventively firing torpedoes at the Klingon Homeworld…"

"You yourself said that the area is uninhabited," Kirk shot him a glare clearly meant to tell him to shut up, yet Spock didn't seem to catch that, "There is going to be only one casualty. And in case you weren't listening, our orders have nothing do with Starfleet regulations."

"Wait a minute," Bones looked up from where he was examining the teeth marks on his wrist, "We're firing torpedoes at the Klingons?!"

"Regulations aside this action is morally wrong," Spock stated.

"Harrison's actions in Daystrom were morally wrong as well," Victoria shot back, "Are you defending him, Mr. Spock?"

Spock stiffened at the accusation, "Never," he told her earnestly, "I was merely saying, regulations…"

"Yeah, well, regulations aside, pulling your ass out of a volcano was morally right," Kirk countered, "And no one won any points for that."

"Jim, calm down," Bones muttered, seeing a spike in the scanner he was holding up to the man now.

"I'm not going to take ethics lessons from a robot!" Kirk snapped, taking a breath when Victoria squeezed his hand…only for Bones to reach through the chairs and put the end of the scanner right on Kirk's cheek, "I WILL bite you too."

"Resorting to name calling suggests that you are defensive," Spock tilted his head as he eyed Kirk, "And, therefore, find my opinion valid."

"No one asked for your opinion Spock," Victoria grumbled.

"Bones, get that thing off my face!" Kirk shouted, slapping the scanner away.

"Captain," Spock tried once more, "Our mission could start a _war_ with the Klingons, and is, by its very definition, immoral. Perhaps you should take the requisite time to arrive at this conclusion for yourself and discuss it with Liaison Pike."

"V?" a voice called as a blonde woman in a blue uniform stepped up to them.

Kirk was about to open his mouth to ask who she was and what she wanted, when Victoria looked up, "Carol!?" she stared, before leaping to her feet and hugging the woman tightly.

"Vick," the woman, Carol, smiled, hugging her back before pulling away, "I am so sorry," she told the girl, Bones looking up at that, as far as he knew HE was the only one who called her 'Vick' or 'Vicky,' but the woman paid him no mind, "I came as soon as I heard about your dad."

"You didn't have to," she murmured.

"I did," Carol insisted, "You were there for me when my mum…passed," she offered delicately, "I couldn't let you go through this alone."

Kirk cleared his throat, "She's not exactly alone," he informed the woman, "She's got the entire crew," he stood up, "And me," before offering his hand to the woman, "Captain James T. Kirk."

Carol gave him an appraising look, already knowing who he was but having to tease her friend just a little more, "Oh, so THIS is 'James' eh?" she nudged Victoria, "You were right, he is rather hands…"

She was cut off by Victoria putting a hand over her mouth, "Don't say another word or I'll tell them about the time you had a crush on a F…"

Victoria was cut off as well by Carol returning the favor, "Deal," she laughed, pulling her hand away and hugging Victoria once more.

"Handsome am I?" Kirk grinned, already able to guess what Carol had been about to say.

"If you squint," Victoria countered playfully.

Kirk reached out and put his arm around her, "Well you're gorgeous."

"Please don't start," Bones pleaded, "Please," even though it had made Victoria smile, seemed to have made the two forget, even for a second, their sorrow…he couldn't stand the sickeningly sweet version of them. After years of them trying to murder each other…to see them being playful was still very jarring.

"I take it you know each other?" Kirk, thankfully for Bones, got back to point, looking at Carol.

Victoria nodded, "This is Carol…"

"Science officer Wallace," Carol said more formally, Spock tilting his head as he saw Victoria frown at how the woman had introduced herself, "I've been assigned to Enterprise by Admiral Marcus. These are my transfer orders," she handed Kirk the necessary documentation to look over as he sat back down, Victoria still standing though.

"You requested an additional science officer, Captain?" Spock frowned at him.

"I wish I had," he muttered, at this point he was almost regretting taking Spock back on, but he shook his head, skimming the files, "Lieutenant Carol Wallace, Doctor in Applied Physics, specializing in advanced weaponry."

"You finally got the doctorate then?" Victoria glanced at Carol, "Congratulations."

"Thanks," Carol smiled at her, proud of herself.

"Impressive credentials," Spock remarked.

"Thank you," she nodded to him as well.

"But redundant now that _I'm_ back onboard the Enterprise."

Kirk shot Spock a look, before smiling at Carol, taking Victoria's hand to tug her down beside him once more, "The more than merrier," he welcomed her.

Victoria sat down, patting the seat beside her for Carol to join them, "I missed you V," Carol told her quietly.

"I missed you too," she gave the woman another hug, a one armed one.

She and Carol had met a few times growing up, when their fathers would serve on the same ship. Both their fathers had been very dedicated to the Fleet and they'd grown up much the same, moving from ship to ship, growing up with Cadets and Crew instead of many other children. They found a kindred spirit in each other, both being girls, with their fathers as high ranking officials, both with similar backgrounds and experiences and familiarity with the ships. She and Carol had tried to keep in touch whenever one of them had to leave a ship, they always seemed to see each other every three years or so, their fathers would just happen to get reassigned to the same ship. There had been one time Marcus had been the captain of a ship with her father as his First Officer, she and Carol had seen each other every day watching their fathers working about. They'd always talked about how much they felt they'd enjoy being assigned the same ship and being crew together.

Now, it seemed, they just might get that.

Kirk glanced over at Carol as one of the pilots came on the speakers, "Shuttle crew standby for lift off."

He could tell that there was more to Carol's transfer than just Marcus assigning her to them, he wasn't sure entirely what it was, but he knew at least one part of it was her obvious friendship with Victoria. He'd heard mention of a Carol here and there, he wasn't sure if this was the same woman, but if it was…he would gladly welcome her as one of Victoria's closest friends.

Because right now, she needed that more than anything.

He looked over at Victoria again, squeezing her hand once more as she turned to him, "It'll be alright," he murmured to her, needing her to know that it would be, that he'd take care of it, that Harrison wouldn't get away with anything.

Victoria smiled, "Thank you," she swallowed, shifting a little in her seat to rest her head to his shoulder, just...needing a short nap, despite all the energy she'd wasted the last few days, all the adrenaline sapping her strength, she just...hadn't been able to fall asleep, but...she really was tired and she trusted Kirk enough to drift off on his shoulder, not seeing Kirk smile and close his own eyes, resting his head against hers.

As a result, neither of them noticed Carol watching them for a moment, before she smiled herself.

~8~

Victoria looked over as she and Kirk stepped off the shuttle into the engineering bay of the Enterprise to see Scotty having some sort of heated debate (shouting match) with one of the representatives that Marcus had sent to deliver the torpedoes to the ship.

"No!" Scotty was yelling, "I'm not signing anything, now get these bloody things off of my ship!" he suddenly quieted when he saw Kirk and Victoria approaching, "Captain, lovely lass," he greeted.

Kirk rolled his eyes at Scotty's newest name for Victoria, "Is there a problem, Mr. Scott?"

"Aye Sir," Scotty nodded, "I was just explaining to this gentlemen. That I cannae authorize any weapons onboard this ship without knowing what's inside them."

"Mr. Scott rises yet another point," Spock commented as he approached them.

"Report to the Bridge," Kirk ordered the Vulcan.

Spock's lips pursed but he gave a short nod, "Captain," and turned to go.

"Mr. Scott," Kirk sighed, turning back to Scotty, "I understand your concerns but we need these torpedoes onboard."

"Due respect, sir," Scotty argued, "But Photon torpedoes run on fuel. Now I cannae detect the type of fuel that's in the compartments on these torpedoes, because it's shielded. Now I asked for the specifications, but he said..." he pointed back at the man.

"It's classified," the man repeated.

"It's Classified. So I said, no specs no signature!"

"Captain," they looked up, hearing and seeing Sulu above them, "Flight checks complete. We're good to go, Sir."

"Thank you Mr. Sulu," Kirk nodded.

"Yes sir."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, sir," Scotty continued, "I have a warp core to prime. If you'd like to join me Lassie?" Scotty glanced at Victoria, knowing that she likely didn't want more people giving her condolences and just…needed something to get her mind off of everything…only to see Keenser sitting on top of equipment behind her, "Get down!"

"Jim," Bones cut in, "Your vitals way off. Report to the medbay."

"Scotty," Victoria stepped up to the man, "Please…I wouldn't ask this of you, believe me, I KNOW how dangers having these torpedoes onboard is, but…we NEED them here."

"Do you know what that is?" Scotty just pointed at the warp core.

"The warp core," she stated flatly, "I get it Scotty, it's radioactive to the point where even the smallest change in the magnetic output can set off an explosion that would kill us all."

"Oh yeah," Scotty rolled his eyes, "A small change…like firing one or more of 6 dozen torpedoes with an unknown payload," he shook his head, "Victoria you KNOW how dangerous this is!"

"And Harrison is much more dangerous than that," she countered.

Scotty sighed, "I'm sorry sir," he turned to Kirk, "But letting those torpedoes onboard the Enterprise is the last straw."

"What was the first straw?" Kirk scoffed.

"What was the...there are plenty of straws! How about Starfleet confiscating my transwarp equation? And now some madman's using it to hop across the galaxy! Where do you think he got it from? DO you have any idea how guilty that makes me feel," he looked at Kirk, "To know that MY device, MY equation was used by some high and mighty Fleet officer to attack Daystrom?" he swallowed hard, "Harrison used MY device and now Captain Pike is…"

"Scotty," Kirk cut in with a hard note in his voice, his eyes narrowing at the man as he saw Victoria flinch, "We have orders, Scotty."

Scotty was silent a moment, offering Victoria an apologetic look before turning to Kirk once more, "That's what scares me. This is clearly a military operation. Is that we are now? Cos I thought we were explorers."

"Sign for the torpedoes. That's an order."

"I'm sorry sir, but I cannae do that."

"Fine, then I will," Victoria cut in, "Give me the board," she held out her hand for the datapad in the official's hand.

"You cannae do that lass!" Scotty tried to stop her.

But she pulled her arm away and stepped back, "As Liaison to the Bridge, I supersede the authority of the acting engineering officer," she mumbled under her breath a rule she had never thought she'd ever use, least of all against Scotty, signing the pad and handing it back to the man.

"Thank you ma'am," the official nodded, turning to head out, leaving the torpedoes behind.

"Right, well then, if you clearly don't need me," Scotty frowned, watching Victoria look at the torpedoes, never having thought she, of all people, would do that to him, "You leave me no choice but to resign my duties."

"Come on, Scotty…" Kirk shook his head.

"You and Liaison Pike have given me no choice, sir," Scotty defended, not sure how he felt when Victoria didn't flinch at the formal use of her title, something he knew she hated, having spent so long not being referred to as Pike, knowing that the repeated use of her last name was just digging up memories of her father.

"We're giving you a choice…"

"You're just making the wrong one," Victoria looked at him, a hard, dark look in her eyes that broke his heart to see mixed with the pain of loss.

"Do you accept my resignation or not?" Scotty merely looked at Kirk.

Kirk let out a breath, "I do," he swallowed, "You are you relieved, Mr. Scott."

Scotty seemed almost shocked that Kirk had really done that, really accepted his resignation, hadn't even fought against it really, "Jim, Tory," he looked at them pleadingly, "For the love of God, do _not_ use those torpedoes."

Victoria merely held out her hand expectantly, Scotty sighing as he handed over his own datapad, he and Keenser heading to the shuttle that would return them to Earth, none of them aware that Spock was watching the entire confrontation from the Bridge.

~8~

Kirk and Victoria stepped onto the turbolift to take it up to the Bridge, Uhura already within, "Tory," she immediately hugged the girl the second the doors closed, "I'm so sorry…"

"Thanks," she murmured, closing her eyes tight till she felt someone take her hand and tug her back, making her release Uhura. Kirk moved her closer to him, winding an arm around her, knowing how much everyone repeatedly telling her how sorry they were got to her and just kept forcing her to think about what happened, and how sorry she felt as well.

"We all are," he added quietly.

"Are you ok?" Uhura reached out to rub Victoria's arm comfortingly, "Both of you?" she added when Victoria gave her a small nod, Kirk just remaining stone faced.

"Fine, thank you Lieutenant," he answered, before letting out a huff, "Actually, Scotty just quit, we need a new engineer," he _refused_ to let Victoria be down there, not just because he didn't want her around the torpedoes if they were really as dangerous as she and Scotty had mentioned, but also…he just…he was being selfish. She was the most qualified to take over for Scotty but he wanted her with him, on the Bridge, where she always was. He couldn't help but feel like that sense of normalcy, to be in the same job and station she always was might…help, "And your boyfriend's second guessing us every chance he gets."

"James," Victoria shook her head, not wanting him to take his frustrations out on Uhura, it sounded like he was blaming her for Spock or something.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, "That was inappropriate. It's just…sometimes I want to rip those things off his head. Hell maybe it's me."

"It's not you," Uhura muttered quickly, making Victoria smile a little more.

"It's not?" Kirk frowned.

"Ny…are YOU ok?" Victoria glanced at her, "Are you and Spock fighting?"

"I'd Rather not talk about it," Uhura said diplomatically, though Victoria knew she meant she'd rather not talk about it in front of Kirk.

"Oh my God," Kirk blinked, justifying Uhura's lack of willingness to bring it up around him with just that reaction, "What is it even like?" the doors opened to the Bridge to reveal Spock standing there, waiting for them. Uhura gave him a hard look and took Victoria's arm, stepping out of the lift with her, leaving Kirk to face the Vulcan down, "Your ears burning?" he quipped, moving to leave the lift after the girls…but Spock grabbed his arm.

"Captain," he began, turning Kirk around to face him, making sure that he was listening before he continued, "I understand that attempts to reason with you by means of citing the violations of the rules may not be the most efficient way to convince you of the immorality of this mission…" Kirk rolled his eyes, but Spock wasn't done, "I have thought, however, to try a different, more…human tactic."

Kirk scoffed, "Take your best shot."

"Victoria Pike," Spock stated, making Kirk freeze, the smug smirk falling off his face, "In encouraging her, in enabling her pursuit of Harrison, and in agreeing to the terms set out by Admiral Marcus…are you not ensuring that she will become a murderer, just as Harrison is?"

"She is NOTHING like Harrison," Kirk glared at Spock.

"To murder someone else in cold blood, in an attack, is much like Harrison," Spock pointed out, before tilting his head, "Would Captain Pike be proud of her, of you, of either of you if he were here to see what you are planning?" he paused a moment, "Would he wish to see his daughter become that which you are leading her to?"

Kirk's eyes narrowed, his jaw tensed, his hands clenched into fists…all of which Spock noticed, before the Vulcan gave a curt nod and headed to his post, seeing that his point had been made, that Kirk had listened to his argument…he would not be reacting if he were not considering the words that had been spoken.

"Captain on the bridge!" Chekov's voice called as Kirk turned to follow Spock with his glare, taking a step into the Bridge.

"Captain," Sulu greeted, their calls shaking Kirk from his thoughts.

The man turned and headed for Chekov, "Mr. Chekhov. You've been shadowing Mr. Scott and Liaison Pike, you are familiar with Engineering systems of this ship?"

"Affirmative, sir," Chekov nodded, before smiling, "Wictoria believes I have a talent for engineering."

"Good," he patted Chekov on the back, "You're my new chief, go put on the red shirt."

Chekov blinked at that, dread filling him at the thought of putting on the cursed red shirt. There was a myth surrounding it, that those who wore it tended to end up being the ones who died the most often. Victoria had reassured him it wasn't a myth…it was reality. It was actually based in the area of focus that the red shirt represented that explained why so many who wore it tended to die. Engineers, who toiled away in front of what was essentially a nuclear disaster waiting to happen and seeped in radiation, and Security, who were the front line of defense and the soldiers of the ships, were the ones in the most dangerous professions while onboard a starship. They were put in the most deadly situations on a regular, they WOULD be the ones to die most often.

But Victoria had also promised that she would teach him a few tricks she'd picked up from watching engineers her entire life that would help him.

…she hadn't quite gotten around to it though.

"Aye, Captain," Chekov breathed, before rising and heading out of the Bridge in a daze of apprehension.

"Retract all moorings, Mr. Sulu," Kirk called, after quite a few minutes of sitting contemplatively in his chair.

"Yes, sir," Sulu nodded.

"Lieutenant Uhura, open the ship wide channel."

"Yes, sir," Uhura clicked a few buttons, and nodded at him.

"Victoria?" he glanced at her.

"Chekhov," she called, handling the lines to Engineering, "How is everything?"

"All systems nominal, Wictoria," Chekov responded, recalling her earlier order to just call her that instead of all the Liaison Pike business, and he suspected 'Pike' was the LAST thing she wanted to hear right now.

"And our warp capabilities?"

"Warp available upon command," He confirmed.

"Thanks Chekov," she smiled, before turning in her chair to face Kirk, "Engineering is a go."

He nodded, "Alright, let's ride," he pointed to Sulu.

"Yes, sir," Sulu reached out and sent them into warp.

"Channel open, sir," Uhura added, bringing up the ship-wide broadcast.

"Attention, crew of the Enterprise," Kirk began, "As most of you know, Christopher Pike, former captain of this ship, and father to one of our own," he swallowed, seeing Victoria flinch at that, "Is dead. The man who killed him has fled our system, and is hiding in the Klingon Homeworld. Somewhere he believes we are unwilling to go. We are on our way there now. Per Admiral Marcus, it is essential that our presence go undetected. Tensions between the Federation and the Klingon Empire have been high, any provocation could lead to all out war," he hesitated a moment, glancing at Victoria as she turned to see why he had stopped talking.

He let out a breath, seeing it now, seeing the dark determination in her eyes…she really would kill the man, with her bare hands if necessary (he didn't doubt she'd be able to either), the second they found him. And…he couldn't do that to her. Not her. Victoria Pike wasn't a killer, Captain Pike's daughter was not a murderer, and…if he could keep her from falling into that darkness…he'd do it.

He would NOT let her become the monster they were hunting.

And so he took a breath, and continued, even knowing his words would disappoint Victoria inordinately, "I will personally lead a landing party to an abandoned city on the surface of Kronos. There we will capture the fugitive, John Harrison, and return him to Earth so he can face judgment for his actions," he looked at Victoria, mouthing 'I'm Sorry' to her as she looked down, almost as though she expected him to do this, "Alright, let's go get this son of a bitch. Kirk out."

"Captain," Spock called as Kirk stood, "I believe you have made the right decision. If I can be of assistance, I would be happy to accompany you on the away team."

"You, happy?" he scoffed.

"I was simply attempting to use your vernacular to convey an idea."

"Thank you, Mr. Spock," Kirk rolled his eyes and headed over to Victoria, "Listen, Victoria…I'm sor…"

"I get it," she cut in, not looking at him though, "It's too dangerous, it's too great a risk," she shrugged, trying to hide the crack in her voice, "My father's dead…and we're just going to go capture his murderer," her words turned bitter.

"I want to take him out as much as you do," Kirk tried to talk to her.

"No," she turned to face him, making him flinch to see tears in her eyes, "You don't. Otherwise we'd be prepping the torpedoes right now and taking that bastard out in a firefight like he did to dad."

"How does that make us better than him?" he countered, hating that he was essentially using Spock's arguments.

Victoria just shook her head and stood up, striding out of the Bridge, unable to stand being there any longer. She knew that Kirk was right, how would murdering Harrison make her any different than him murdering her father? But she couldn't think like that, she couldn't let herself, one slip in her thoughts…and Harrison wouldn't pay for his crimes at all. She knew it was terrible to think like that, she knew it was wrong, but…her father was dead, she'd seen him die in front of her eyes and all she wanted to do was see Harrison go the same way, and know he couldn't ever hurt another person the way he'd hurt her, that he'd never take another person's loved one away from them in such a horrible manner.

~8~

"Carol?" Victoria called as she entered Engineering, needing just…something to do to keep her occupied or she'd go storming back to the Bridge and probably punch Kirk, and she didn't want to hurt him just because she was cross. Well…not physically hurt him, she knew her words before had been biting and bitter, but…she couldn't understand why no one seemed to be willing to avenge their former Captain!

Both Spock AND Kirk had been able to avenge their mother and father respectively, had been able to take out Nero…why couldn't she have the same courtesy?

"Vicky!" Carol gasped, turning from where she was scanning one of the torpedoes to face her friend, "You startled me."

"You were too focused," she nudged the woman, "No my fault," she came up along the torpedoes and looked down at one of them, "Why are you here?"

"I wanted to verify that the torpedoes…"

"Carol," she cut in, giving her a look, "You KNOW what I meant. Introducing yourself as Wallace?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Like you've never tried to stay away from using YOUR father's name," Carol rolled her eyes, before realizing what she'd said, "I'm so sorry…"

"Stop," she shook her head, "Please, just…stop with the sorrys. I just want people to stop apologizing, it's not going to bring him back."

"Sor…" Carol caught herself before sighing, "You hacked into my transfers didn't you?"

"Your dad would NEVER assign you here," Victoria shrugged, "And you were TOO insistent that they call you Wallace. The Admiral has no idea you're here does he?"

"No," Carol admitted, "I had access to some of the research done in Section 31 but…"

Before she could finish, there was a terrible jolt that sent them both falling to the floor, one Victoria was familiar with, a jolt that only happened when someone in engineering dropped a ship out of warp manually.

"Mr. Chekov, did you break my ship?!" Kirk's voice came over the comms..

"Sorry, sir," they saw Chekov rush over to the comm., goggles on his head, "I don't know what happened…"

Victoria ran over to help him with the scans and readings, knowing the flashing lights and alarms that had started were probably NOT helping the poor boy focus, "It's the core," she reported, "It overheated."

"Aye," Chekov nodded, "I had to actiwate the emergency stop."

"If it's overheated, it has to be a cooling leak," she turned to Chekov, "You need to find it as soon as possible."

Chekov nodded, "Understood," before calling out to Kirk, "Sorry, Captain."

"Damn it," they could hear Kirk over the comms., clearly he'd forgotten they were still open, "Mr. Sulu, time to our destination."

"20 minutes sir," Sulu reported, "That's 20 minutes in enemy space that we weren't counting on."

"Alright, we better hop to it. Mr. Spock you're coming with me to Kronos. Lieutenant, how's your Klingon?"

"It's rusty but it's good," Uhura responded.

"Good, you're coming too. This isn't going to be a problem, is it? You two working together?"

"Absolutely not."

Spock though, paused, "Unclear."

There was a moment before Kirk was on the comm. again, "Victoria?"

She sighed, rubbing her head, "It won't be a problem for us either," she answered, knowing that he had called out to her because he wanted her to go with them. If they were going to take out Harrison, SHE was going to be there to see it happen.

"Meet you by the shuttles," he called, before the comm. clicked off.

Victoria turned to head over to them…only to see Carol smirking at her, "What?"

"Nothing," Carol shook her head, amused, "Just…you let him call you Victoria?" she started to smirk more knowingly now, realizing what that meant for her friend to allow the man to do so.

Victoria just shook her head, knowing that Carol was all too aware of how much she usually hated when people called her by her full name, the implication that Kirk wasn't just 'people' to her, "Shut up."

A/N: Poor Kirk/Victoria...Kirkoria? Virk? Tork? Kiry? Hmmm...no idea lol :) But at least Kirk seems to have snapped out of it a little :) Look at Spock being all sly there lol :) But tomorrow...Khan! }:)

Sorry this was so late :( My great-uncle died on Saturday and it's been a mess of family and wakes and the funeral is today so I haven't hade as much time to edit :( I got up extra early today before the funeral to try and get this out before I have to go :(

Some notes on reviews...

Oh Tory will be uber-angry when she finds out what Marcus has done }:) Especially because we find out here that she sort of knows him more than she let on, she's friends with his daughter, she grew up around the man as well...I feel so bad for both women when they find out what he did :(

I was debating Kirk's reaction, whether to have him be more distant and unnoticing of Carol, like is (now) with all women who aren't Victoria or the crew, but given her friendship with Victoria, I feel like he'd just try to be a friend to her :) I can say we'll see a bit of Carol bonding with another member of the crew ;)


	5. Kronos

Kronos

Kirk closed his eyes, not entirely sure how he felt about Victoria joining them. He knew that it was only fair she come. Harrison had killed her father in the attack, of all of them she was the most closely and deeply affected by the events, she deserved to be there. On the other hand…he just couldn't help but feel like he should do everything in his power to keep her as far away from Harrison as possible. Spock was right, he and Victoria had been so angry that they would have killed the man, they would have been willing to start a war to do it. Victoria still was, but he…he still wanted to end Harrison, but he could see that doing so in the same manner the man had, with a firefight on the Klingon Homeworld would only make them more like him.

He didn't want that, he didn't want Victoria to fall into that trap, but she was hardheaded at the best of times, it would take more than just him telling her about his fears for her to wake up herself. If he did…she'd just fight him more, it would push her to go after Harrison herself. So he had to keep her close, so he could watch over her. She was too important to him to let her fall through the cracks like that.

"I'll meet you in the shuttle bay," he called into the comms. while also speaking to Uhura and Spock, who nodded and headed out of the room.

"Jim," Bones moved in front of him to stop him following, "You're not actually going down there, are you? You don't rob a bank, when the getaway car has a flat tire! Believe me, I know, Vick and I learned that the hard way."

Kirk was in the middle of rolling his eyes when Bones's words caught up to him, "When did you two rob a bank? And why wasn't I invited?"

"Not the time Jim," Bones reminded him, not about to tell him that adventure. It hadn't exactly been a bank but they HAD stolen some things, small things.

"Look, Victoria will get Engineering to have us all patched up by the time we get back," Kirk sighed, "Isn't that right, Tor?"

"I'm giving Chekov a crash course as we speak," she called back the affirmative.

"Yes, Captain," Chekov agreed, "I'll do my best, Sir.'

"Mr. Sulu," Kirk turned to the pilot, "You have the comm.. Once we're on route, I want you to transmit a targeted comm-burst to Harrison's location. Tell him you have a bunch of real big torpedoes pointed at his head and if he doesn't play nice you're not afraid to use 'em," he glanced at Sulu to see him sitting there stiffly, staring at him with what looked like apprehension, "Is that a problem?"

"No, sir," Sulu answered promptly, "I've just…never sat in the chair before."

"You'll hate it!" came Victoria's shout, the comm. still open.

Kirk shook his head at her, that as one of their biggest differences, he'd always wanted to be a captain, even when he'd been on Earth in Iowa, not that he'd ever admit that to anyone. He'd always wanted to be like his father, a captain, saving people, commanding a crew…except without the dying part. And now he was, and he loved it, he loved knowing his crew looked up to him, that they respected him. He even enjoyed being in charge of them, knowing his decisions affected so many people. It was and incredible feeling to be able to be responsible for so much and so many and that ship! The Enterprise was the jewel of the Fleet.

Victoria was the opposite, she hated being in charge of the entire ship, she could barely handle being in charge of engineering, hence why she'd focused on being a liaison instead of one of the main chiefs. She'd rather be on the Bridge and helping the captain than in the engine room where the others were. Oh she loved engineering too, she enjoyed making things and fixing things and the hum of the warp, but she was content in working there. She didn't want the responsibility of being in charge of so many people. She'd be more likely to hide behind the chair than willingly sit down upon it.

"You're going to do great," Kirk offered Sulu, turning to go…only for Bones to get in his way again.

"Jim, wait. You just sat that man down on high stakes poker game, with no cards and told him to bluff. Now," he shook his head, "Sulu is a good man, but he is no Captain…"

"For next 2 hours he is," Kirk cut back, "And enough with the metaphors, alright. I get enough of that from Victoria and yours are worse than hers!" he honestly hadn't thought that was possible, but Bones continuously proved him wrong, "That's an order. Mr. Sulu," he added to the man again, "Make sure that the knormian ship is ready to fly."

Sulu nodded and moved to the chair as Kirk left the room, "Acting Captain Sulu to shuttle-bay 2," he called into the comm., "Please have the trade ship we confiscated during the mud incident last month fuelled and flight ready. Captain Kirk is on route to you right now."

~8~

Kirk looked around the hanger to see Victoria speaking with another engineer, a Mr. Hendor if he recalled correctly. He stood there a moment, watching them converse about the shuttle, before he nodded to himself and headed over to her. He wound his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on her head and giving her a squeeze. He knew she was likely in NO mood for such displays now that they were closer to finding Harrison, but…he just wanted her to smile again, to feel safe and warm and loved…and hope that it would pull her out of the thoughts of revenge that had led to her current state.

"How's it looking?" he asked her, smiling when she lifted her arms to rest her hands on his forearm around her front,

"The shuttle should be ready to deploy in a few minutes."

"Right," he nodded, before glancing at the two other engineers, "Lieutenants lose the red shirts. You are khormian arms dealers, put those on," he gestured to Uhura as she and Spock, dressed more like the arms dealers, walked up with spare uniforms, Uhura handing one to each man, Spock giving Victoria hers.

"Sir?" Hendor blinked, confused.

"Look if this thing goes south, there can be _nothing_, tying us to Starfleet," he warned, "Unless of course you want to start a war, Mr. Hendor?"

"No, sir."

Kirk glanced at the second man, "No sir," he bowed his head like the first soldier had done.

"Good, me neither. Victoria," he squeezed her a moment till she looked up at him, "Need help changing?"

An elbow to the gut was the answer he got.

"I'll take that as a no," he managed to ground out.

~8~

"I am detecting a single life sign in Keth Province," Spock reported a short while later as they flew the shuttle over the landscape of Kronos, everyone oddly silent and serious, something that actually made the crew shift to hear Kirk so on task, though they all felt they should have expected it, when it came to Victoria and things that affected her…he was very one-track minded, "Given the information provided by Mr. Scott, this is most likely John Harrison.'

"Mr. Sulu," Kirk called over the comm., "I think we found our man, you let him know you mean business."

"Aye, captain," Sulu cleared his throat, all of them able to hear his next words despite them being directed and transmitted to Harrison, "Attention, John Harrison. This is Captain Hikaru Sulu of the USS Enterprise. A shuttle of highly trained officers is on its way to your location. If you do not surrender to them immediately, I will unleash the entire payload of advanced, long-range torpedoes currently locked on to your location. You have two minutes to confirm your compliance. Refusal to do so will result in your obliteration. If you test me…you will fail."

"Mr. Sulu," Bones spoke a moment after the transmission to Harrison cut off, "Remind me never to piss you off."

"Could have told you that Bonesy," Victoria muttered, though Kirk smiled a little at hearing it, her sense of humor was peeking through and that was a great sign in his book that she was still in there, the real her, not the angry, bitter, vengeance seeking (both admittedly reasonable for her to be that, and also incredibly attractive in his mind to see her sort of dangerous like that…though a danger he was not going to let her fall into completely if he could help it) mourning daughter.

"We will arrive at Harrison's location in three minutes, Captain," Spock added, "It's unlikely that he will come willingly."

"Don't worry about that Spock," Victoria remarked, "I will drag him out of there kicking and screaming and in pieces if I have to."

Kirk winced at that, he should NOT find the image of her doing so as appealing as he did, it was just…he and Victoria were so alike but also so different. Where he was the main flirt in the relationship, her only teasing him back, flirting to counter him, she didn't usually start the flirt attacks. She usually just retaliated and sometimes teased him to torment him. But she was remarkably controlled over herself, when the weren't bickering or letting it purposefully escalate into an agreement. To see her losing a little of that control, even with it being for such a dark situation…he could admit it WAS appealing to see, to see such raw emotion out of her.

"I would not suggest such a course of action," Spock warned, "I calculate the odds him attempting to kill us at 91.6%."

"Fantastic," Kirk grumbled.

"Good thing you don't care about dying," Uhura muttered.

"I am Sorry, Lieutenant," Spock glanced at her, "I could not hear what you..."

"Oh, I didn't say anything…" she said quickly, before thinking better of it, "Actually I'd be happy to speak if you're willing listen to me."

"Guys…"

"Just let them hash it out James," Victoria cut in, "Better they do it now than let it fester longer or do it in the middle of a truly bad situation."

Kirk sighed but stayed quiet as Spock spoke again, "Lieutenant I would prefer to discuss this in private."

"You would prefer not to discuss this at all," Uhura snapped.

"Our plans..."

"At that volcano you didn't give a thought to us," Uhura cut in, "What would it do to me if you died, Spock. You didn't feel anything. You didn't care. And I'm not only one who's upset with you, the captain's is too. Tory's probably furious…"

"No, no," Kirk shook his head, "Don't drag us into this."

"She's got a point though," Victoria countered.

"Your suggestion that I do not care about dying is incorrect," Spock stated, sounding more like he was about to start a lecture rather than offer a heartfelt apology for frightening the woman who loved him the way he had, "A sentient beings optimal chance to maximizing utility is a long and prospers life."

"Great," Uhura rolled her eyes, seeming to sense that as well.

"Not exactly a love-song, Spock," Kirk remarked, his mind racing for all the ways he'd LOVE to say he was sorry to Victoria if ever they fought like that.

Well, that was a strange thought to realize. They'd never actually fought that terribly before that they were at such odds to be so angry. They fought all the time when they first met, but the very next day it would be like it hadn't happened. They fought even now but it ended up being more with a playful undertone to it. They hadn't actually _fought_ fought like that, and he was almost interested to see what might happen if they did.

Making up would, undoubtedly, be a phenomenal experience.

"You misunderstand," Spock repeated, "It is true I chose not to feel anything upon realizing that my own life was ending. I apologize for speaking of this, Liaison Pike," Spock glanced at her, the formal title meaning he was trying to keep this as personal as he could for him and Uhura and as professional for all other parties involved, "But as Admiral Pike was dying I joined with his conscience, and experienced what he felt at the moment of his passing…anger, confusion, loneliness. Fear. I had experienced those feelings before, multiplied exponentially on the day my planet was destroyed, such a feeling is something I choose _never_ to experience again. Nyota," he turned to her, seeing her listening, "You mistake my choice not to feel as a reflection of my not caring, while I assure you, the truth is precisely the opposite."

Uhura opened her mouth to remark on that when the ship jolted suddenly, nearly sending them flying out of their seats had they not been strapped in, "What the hell was that?" Kirk shouted.

"An attack James!" Victoria turned to her controls, checking the readings of the ship, "What else could it be?!"

"We are being pursued by a D4 class Klingon vessel," Spock reported.

"I thought this sector was abandoned," Kirk glanced at him.

"It must be a random patrol," Uhura frantically tried to keep their comm. line open with the Enterprise.

"Hold on!" he winced as the ship was hit again, reaching out to grab Victoria's hand as the ship shook.

"James we don't have any weapons on this shuttle," Victoria reminded him, having made it her duty to memorize the schematics and capabilities of all shuttles and vessels that the Enterprise took on.

"She's got us," he squeezed her hand before letting go to focus on the controls before him, "Give me all six fuel cells."

"Aye captain!" Hendor rushed to get it done.

"Damn it!" Kirk winced as they were struck yet again.

"We don't have any real shields either!" Victoria had to add.

"And they are closing fast," Uhura responded, "Bearing 285."

Kirk glanced down at his scanner, showing a 3D map/grid-like image of the area, helping him pilot, and revealing a fracture of sorts between two mountains, ""Right there! There! We can lose them there."

"If you are suggesting we utilize the passage between the approaching structures, the ship will not fit," Spock warned.

"We'll fit."

"Captain we will _not _fit!"

"Spock shut up!" Victoria shouted, grabbing the arms of her chair as they flew right at the crack.

"We'll fit," Kirk gripped the steering tightly, "We'll fit!" before letting out a shout, the shuttle flying through the crevice, literally barely making it in the end, knocking off a rather big piece of the craft in the process, till they emerged on the other side. Kirk grinned, lying back in his seat, impressed and relieved, "Told you we'd fit."

"Never doubted it," Victoria pushed herself out of her seat to give him a quick kiss on the cheek for it, only for Kirk to reach out and touch her face, holding her there as he gave her a kiss on the lips instead.

"I am not sure that qualifies," Spock remarked, making Victoria roll her eyes at that, though Kirk smiled more, seeing some of the old Victoria coming back from the murderous thoughts of Harrison.

"Any sign of them?" Kirk looked over at Uhura.

"No," she answered, "Which worries me."

"We lost them," Kirk let out a breath.

"Or they're jamming our scanners."

"You're being a killjoy again Ny," Victoria told her, Uhura had always been a bit…more strict and sensible than she was. It probably helped keeping her out of trouble just a little in the time they'd been at the Academy, but not by much. She sighed though, "And probably right."

This was turning out to be a little too much like when Vulcan had been attacked. Uhura hadn't been able to hear any transmissions at all from any of the Fleet ships before warp was over. The silence was what had alarmed the crew the most, that NOTHING was coming through. And then, moments after that, they'd entered the middle of an attack. She was afraid this would be the same, that there was silence…and then they'd be fired on again or some sort of ambush would happen or…

"Or we lost them," Kirk insisted, starting to lead the ship up to continue on their quest…only for them to fly right before three Klingon ships that were waiting for them. The lights on the other ships turned on, trapping them in the spotlight, giving them nowhere to fly off that they wouldn't be spotted.

Uhura frowned, listening to the guttural Klingon that sounded from the other ships, translating for them, "They're ordering us to land."

Kirk sighed and nodded at that, the ship slowly descending, the other Klingon ships moving with them till they were all on the ground of the Klingon world.

Victoria stared out the window at the other ships, the Klingon words starting up again, "That…doesn't sound very good," she muttered, glancing at Uhura, "And it's not, is it Ny?"

Uhura swallowed, "They're going to want to know why we're here," she summarized what she was hearing, "And they're going to torture us, question us, and they're going to kill us."

"So, we come out shooting," Kirk decided.

"How?" Victoria shook her head, "I'm all for a challenge James, but we're too outnumbered. We have what? A handful of phasers? They have gunships," she gestured out at the make of the ships, it could be nothing else.

"There's no way we survive if we attack first," Uhura agreed, turning to Kirk, "You brought me here because I speak Klingon. Then let me speak Klingon."

Kirk shook his head, "No."

~8~

Uhura stepped out of the ship, slowly making her way towards the Klingon vessels, alone. She was very grateful for Victoria for convincing Kirk to let her at least try this…she honestly wasn't sure how the girl had done it, looking at Spock before she'd left, he hadn't known either, not even KIRK seemed to understand how he'd gone from refusing to let her out to opening the door for her. They'd all sort of just given up trying to work that out. Victoria seemed to have little ways that she did that, made Kirk agree to things, depending on the situation it could be a look, a touch, a kiss, a plea…they just let her go with it and if it benefited them, who were they to complain?

"This isn't going to work," Kirk let out a breath as they watched Uhura from the shuttle.

"It is our only logical option," Spock stated, though his gaze was locked on Uhura as well, watching as she approached the ship with her hands in the air, the door to the Klingon ship opening as what looked like a small army stepped out, "And if you interrupt her now you will not only incur the wrath of the Klingons, but that of Lieutenant Uhura as well."

"Trust me James," Victoria mumbled, "If you think I'M bad when I'm angry…" she shook her head, "Ny scares ME when she's furious."

Kirk gave a low whistle at that, Victoria could be…very scary when she was angry at him. To find out that Uhura scared even HER…he really did NOT want to see the woman truly angry if that was the case.

"What's she saying?" Kirk frowned, trying to make out what the two were discussing, Uhura's comm. sewn into her uniform was on, one of his conditions to let her go.

"I am here to help you," Spock translated for them.

Kirk rolled his eyes at that, Spock's voice was monotone even when he translated things. He turned and moved to the back, grabbing a few phasers, before he handed them out. One of the Klingon had stepped up to address Uhura and that made him nervous, the Klingon being so close to her. He just…wanted them to be ready to help her if she needed it.

He paused though when he turned back to see Victoria had taken a seat in his chair, "That's MY chair," he mock-pouted at her.

"Don't be selfish James," she countered, her gaze on Uhura.

"Says the woman not sharing her chair," he rolled his eyes, handing her a phaser.

"Like you share your chair," she scoffed.

"Ok, compromise…" he walked over to her and yanked her up, tuning to sit and half spinning her around to pull her down with him.

"I like this compromise," she offered him a small smile as he wrapped his arms around her.

"If you could refrain from speaking," Spock cut in, a hint of an edge of frustration to his voice, "I would be better able to hear the Lieutenant."

"Sorry," Kirk cleared his throat, gesturing Spock to continue his translations.

"With respect," Spock began for Uhura, "There is a criminal hiding in these ruins. He has killed many of our people."

"Did he just take off his helmet?" Kirk leaned forward, shifting Victoria to do so, the two of them squinting as one of the Klingon, the one addressing Uhura, did in fact remove his helmet.

"Why should I care about a human killing humans?" Spock translated for the Klingon, switching to Uhura, "Because you care about honor. And this man has none. You and your people are in danger…"

He cut off suddenly when the Klingon standing in front of Uhura grabbed her face, pulling a knife out and holding it against her.

"Go!" Kirk gave the order that send all of them running for the doors to go after her. But just as they reached them, they heard a blast.

They paused for only a moment, looking out the window to see someone had just attacked the Klingons, taking out the one that had been grabbing Uhura. Unfortunately that meant that the Klingons were now returning fire and Uhura was caught in the middle of it as she tried to get back to the shuttle.

"Not again," Victoria breathed, seeing the firefight, seeing one of her closest friends trapped between it, and turned to bolt out the door. She couldn't do this, she couldn't stand there, she'd stood there before focusing on the enemy instead of the people in a room and her father had died because of it. Not again.

"Victoria!" Kirk called as he raced after her out of the shuttle, the men following, to see her firing only at the ones that were right behind Uhura and aiming at her and followed suit.

The Enterprise crew ran into the fray, trying to get to Uhura who had taken cover, all of them firing at any Klingon they saw while the figure that had first attacked took out quite a few of their numbers. They ended up separated, all of them, Victoria managing to make it to Uhura's side…only to have the woman steal her phaser and fire at the Klingons herself, she knew what a terrible shot Victoria was and truly her aim HAD been just that bad. She hadn't managed to take out any of the Klingons nor land any fatal wound but Uhura certainly was. She hadn't cared though, she just needed to make it to Uhura's side and get her out of there, which she was.

"Come on!" she grabbed Uhura, pulling her towards where she could see the crew gathering…only Kirk was missing. She looked around, trying to find him, only to see him crash to the ground as a Klingon attacked, "James!" she screamed…

When a blast flew right into the Klingon about to attack him, sent at the Klingon by the figure who pulled down his mask to reveal himself to be Harrison.

Victoria swallowed the bile at the thought that the man who had killed her father had just saved another man she loved, before she ran to Kirk, helping him up and pulling him back towards the grew, all of them watching as Harrison took out the rest of the Klingons singlehandedly, whether with a phaser, a knife, or just himself as a weapon…

And then he turned his sights on them, striding towards them with a gun, Kirk and Victoria having fallen to the ground when they reached the crew, panting, while Uhura crouched beside them.

Spock, though, grabbed a gun and moved to defend them, aiming it at Harrison, "Stand down!"

"How many torpedoes?" the man asked, completely ignoring the gun aimed at him.

"Stand down!" Spock repeated, glaring.

Harrison merely turned, firing at Spock's gun to knock it away, and returned his attention to the crew, "The torpedoes! The weapons you threatened me with in your message, how many are they?"

Spock glanced at Kirk and Victoria and Uhura to see them glaring at him, all unwilling to answer and so he did instead, "72."

Harrison glanced at him for that, before dropping his gun and holding up his hands, "I surrender."

Spock, not trusting the sudden move, grabbed Harrison's gun and aimed it at him to be safe.

Kirk swallowed, looking at Victoria who was glaring at the man and squeezed her hand, patting it before he stood, glancing at Uhura and giving her a small jerk of the head towards Victoria. The woman nodded and took his place beside her, putting an arm around her, able to see the tears in the woman's eyes, able to even see the murderous thoughts reflected in them against Harrison. Kirk turned to Harrison, "On the behalf of Christopher Pike, my friend, my father-in-law," he added with a glare, Harrison tilting his head at that in curiosity, as though able to tell Kirk was NOT married, "I accept your surrender…"

And then Kirk punched him in the face, making Harrison's head jerk to the side but it did little else. So he punched him again, and again, and again, and kicked him and hit his stomach and attacked him every way he could till he felt like he couldn't move his limbs any more…and Harrison just stood there, like he hadn't even been touched.

"James," Victoria whispered, halting Kirk's next attack.

Kirk panted, staring Harrison down, seeing the man giving him a smirk, "Cuff him," he ordered Spock.

"Wait," Victoria pushed herself to her feet, taking a step towards Harrison, standing before him and staring him down, the man eyeing her a moment…before she punched him across the face.

Kirk immediately reached out and grabbed her hand, seeing her wince, and tugged her away. He knew it was unfair that he had been able to hit the man so much but not Victoria, but…he knew that wince, it was the wince she always gave when she'd just hurt herself. He pulled her a few feet away, shaking his head fondly at her before he gently lifted her hand to see it was stiff, her fingers still curled, "I thought you said you weren't going to punch people for me anymore," he murmured.

"That wasn't for YOU," she countered quietly, staring at her hand, wondering just how broken it might be and if she could get away with not letting Bones know about it.

~8~

Kirk and Victoria followed behind a set of guards that were leading Harrison through Engineering, taking him to one of the holding cells to wait for them, both of them wanting to see him locked up…well, one of them wanted to see him dead by her hand, the other did want him dead but would rather the Fleet sanction it in a trial than for the girl beside him to turn into a murderer.

"Bones, meet me at the Brig," Kirk called into a comm..

"I'll be right there," Bones replied.

"And bring your portable scanner."

"Got it."

"James," Victoria frowned at that request, knowing what it was for as she tried to uncurl her fingers but couldn't.

"No medbay," he looked at her, "No doctors, but BONES needs to look at your hand," he gave her a small smile, "Don't make me order you Liaison Pike."

She rolled her eyes at that, "As though I'd listen to you Captain Kirk."

He smiled at that, seeing her thoughts seemed, for the moment, off of killing Harrison, and turned to Uhura, "Lieutenant, contact Starfleet. Let them know we have Harrison in custody. And we will be on our way once the warp core is repaired."

"Yes, Sir," Uhura nodded, watching as the two walked off for the Bridge.

~8~

"Why the hell did he surrender?" Bones asked a she followed Kirk and Victoria through the halls, towards the holding cells, Victoria's hand in his own as he worked on wrapping it up along the way. Luckily it wasn't broken or sprained, but her knuckles were heavily and badly bruised, he needed to make sure she didn't hurt them more.

"We don't know," Kirk answered, "He just took out squadron of Klingons single-handedly. I want to know how."

"I want to know how hard it'll be to kill him," Victoria mumbled as well, low enough for only Bones to hear her. She'd punched him hard enough to take Cupcake out, harder than she'd punched Spock, and the man hadn't even flinched.

"I do too Vick," he sighed, "But it sounds like we have a Superman onboard."

"You tell me," Kirk muttered, heading right up to Harrison's cell.

Bones tied the last part of Victoria's binding and moved up to the cell, dragging a small metal hole to the middle of the glass, "Put your arm through that hole, I'm going to take a blood sample."

Harrison rolled up his sleeve and did just that, his gaze on Kirk, "Why aren't we moving, Captain?" he tilted his head again, "An unexpected malfunction?" and then looked at Victoria, now in her red engineering uniform, "Perhaps in your warp core, immediately stranding you on the edge of the Klingon space?"

"How the hell do you know that?" Bones frowned, more shocked than the other two were that the man knew.

"Bones," Kirk sent him a glare not to speak.

"I think you'd find my insight valuable, Captain," Harrison smirked.

"Are you done?" Victoria looked at Bones, not wanting to be there any longer, she was torn between feeling the desire to strangle the man and just…run away from him.

Bones nodded and moved the hole back where it was, closing it, as Harrison pulled his arm back out.

"Let us know what you can find," Kirk ordered Bones, reaching out to put a hand on Victoria's shoulder, turning her around to lead her out, his hand drifting to the small of her back…when Harrison called out the one thing that made them both freeze.

"Ignore me, and you will get everyone on this ship killed."

A/N: Poor Victoria, to have Harrison within reach and unable to kill him or even hurt him, her poor hand :( I can't believe the story is halfway over! O.O Wow! Lol.

On that note, I wanted to say that I'm going to put a poll up tomorrow of different pairing names for Kirk/Victoria, so if you have any suggestions for a pairing, let me know and I'll add it and announce the official name in the last chapter :)

Some notes on reviews...

Just wanted to say thank you all again for your well-wishes and condolences :')

Aww, thanks so much! I'm glad you're enjoying the story :) I have no idea where the inspiration came to write this, I sort of just watch a show or movie and end up picturing an OC in there :) As for writing, I just love it :) I have a bachelor's in Literature and I've applied (fingers crossed) for a Master's so we'll see how that goes :) I also edit a lot of documents for my parents and siblings so I try to keep an editing eye open as I go and tend to read/edit a chapter about 3-4 times before posting :)

I sort of feel like Victoria is her own person, but if you could point out specific ways she's a carbon copy of Kirk that aren't explained from her upbringing or history/personality, I'll be more than happy to give them a look and see if I can't do something about it in the future :)


	6. Talks and Torpedoes

Talks and Torpedoes

Kirk cast a subtle glance at Victoria feeling her tense beside him at Harrison's words. He knew where her mind had gone, to how it wasn't THEM that would lead to death but Harrison himself, the man had killed her father! He didn't want this, he didn't want her to be put in front of the man and have him say something like that. He'd hoped that taking her to Kronos to be a part of the extraction, to be one of the ones to help capture him and bring him in for trial would help her cope.

Even though he knew that was the LAST thing she wanted, to see Harrison get a trial instead of have his head on a chopping block so to speak. He could see it in her expression, in her stance, in every move she made how angry and upset and disappointed she was in his decision to bring Harrison in instead of firing those torpedoes at him. He knew her though, when she was angry she didn't think, he didn't either but that was how he knew what to do to get her to stop even if she still continued to refuse to think about the consequences of her actions.

When she was angry, she acted, she rushed into things and attacked. Oh she was more skilled than he was in planning her attacks though, she thought things through enough where she had a better chance of not ending up with a nose full of napkins like he did, but it didn't take away from the fact that she was less controlled when she was angry. She wanted Harrison dead, he did too, but…he didn't want to see either of them become Harrison in the process, something she seemed to be failing to realize.

Just taking her there and setting her before the man while in his cell had probably been a mistake, he could admit it. He should have taken her to Kronos to capture him, and then ordered (not that she'd have listened) her to stay on the Bridge and not confront Harrison herself. He'd probably have had to resort to Spock doing his neck pinchy thingy, some sort of Vulcan Nerve Pinch, to keep her away from Harrison, but he'd have done it to protect her.

"Captain, Liaison," Spock called, his voice cutting through their thoughts, "I believe he will only attempt to manipulate you," he warned, coming to their sides, glancing between the two of them, "I would not recommending engaging the prisoner further."

"Give me a minute," Kirk shook his head, before looking at Victoria, "Take her to the Bridge," he ordered Spock. He had…a clearer head at the moment, he could deal with Harrison and he didn't want her to be around the man longer than necessary. Harrison struck him as a manipulator, he did NOT want the man to sense how badly Victoria wanted to end him and try to use that against her. He was sure Harrison already knew though. Her expression, her look, her own small attack on the man…and admittedly, his own words about him being his 'father-in-law' and how he acted around Victoria would be enough to clue anyone in to the fact that Pike had been Victoria's father.

He refused to let Harrison use Pike against her.

"James," Victoria turned to him, shooting him such a glare that he actually flinched at it.

He really hated that, when she was mad at him, he hated it even when they hadn't even been friends. There was always something about seeing her angry or disappointed in him, seeing that emotion flickering in her eyes, that did him in. He could guess that, even then, even when he hadn't known who her father was, he'd subconsciously made the association. She had Pike's eyes, looking at her eyes and seeing them look at him like that made him feel like Pike was looking at him the same way.

"Trust me," he took her injured hand gently, "Please, Victoria," he pressed a gentle kiss to her bruised knuckles, "Just…trust me."

Victoria stared him down for a long moment, before she pulled her hand away and stormed out of the room. Kirk sighed as he watched her go, he knew she didn't agree with this, he knew that, in such a delicate situation, with them nearly about to start a war, with them stranded in Klingon space, that she couldn't defy him or argue with him as openly as she would have. She would have argued and shouted and fought with him about his decision if their straights hadn't been so dire. The crew needed a strong captain, the crew needed to see EVERYONE working together with him, so she bit her tongue.

He knew though, that the second they were alone, he'd get hell for it all, especially this, sending her away.

"Spock," he looked at the Vulcan.

Spock gave him a nod of understanding and headed out after Victoria, leaving Kirk to face Harrison alone despite his own misgivings about the man.

Kirk waited till they were out of the room before he turned and strode back over to Harrison's cell, glaring at the man, "Let me explain what's happening here," he hissed, "You are a criminal. I watched you murder innocent men and women. You forced my wife to watch her own father die," he nearly spat, not even realizing what he'd called Victoria though Harrison's eyes widened minutely at that tidbit of information, aware that Kirk had referenced a 'father-in-law' but as far as he knew the man was not married, and now…to hear him call the girl, Victoria, he assumed, his wife…it either meant she was truly that important to him or that they had secretly wed and kept it from the Fleet, either way…that was valuable information indeed, "I was authorized to end you. And the_ only_ reason why you are still alive…is because I am allowing it. I will NOT let you turn her into a murderer like you," he sneered at Harrison, "So shut your mouth."

It was…odd, hearing himself talking like that, it was alarming really. He was a naturally kind man, for the most part. The worst insult he'd ever been able to come up with was things like 'Cupcake' and 'Pointy' for which he was sure 12 year olds could come up with worse titles. But it never appealed to him, being cruel to someone else. His life had been hard, it had been difficult and he had more than his fair share of people being absolute miseries to him, he didn't want to spread that or become that. And now, for him to call Harrison that, to talk about ending him, holding his life in his hands, and just…feeling so angry…it was truly disturbing to hear himself speaking like this.

But that was just it, he WAS angry, he was fuming and murderous and truly the only thing keeping him from filling Harrison's cell with some sort of poisonous gas was the thought that he would become just like the man who had killed Victoria's father if he did…that Victoria would become just like her father's murderer if SHE killed the man. He cared about them and what they had too much to let Harrison corrupt them. At times, when things got hard or hopeless or seemed completely miserable…he honestly felt like Victoria was the only good thing in his life, the only good thing to happen to him despite being made captain of the Enterprise, because it WAS hard to be captain, harder than he thought it would be. He'd stress over every member of the crew, worry about his plans going south and getting them all killed (it was why he planned them out so thoroughly), he'd obsess over every piece of the ship that broke, making sure they were well stocked in supplies and so many other things that, by the end of the day, he was either dead tired or wondering why he'd wanted to be captain so much.

And there would be Victoria. She'd curl up beside him when he was tired, just letting him sleep, expecting nothing more than for him to put an arm around her. She'd massage his shoulders and neck when he was overly stressed, sometimes even his back, without a single thought of him returning the favor (though he did LOVE returning the favor). She'd reassure him and remind him of all the good he'd done in being captain, all the things he could yet still do with his position. She never let him give up or give in, and he was going to do the same for her, he was NOT going to let the darkness and the anger and the hatred for Harrison consume her.

"Captain," Harrison started to smirk, pulling Kirk's attention back to him, "Are you're going to punch me again over and over, till your arm weakens? Clearly you want to. And if your woman is so important to you," he nearly grinned at seeing Kirk's hands clench into fists at the mention of Victoria, "You would see she wishes to see me dead. You claim to 'allow me to live' to protect her?" he scoffed, "I have no qualms with killing you or any member of your crew to see my mission through. You do NOT hold my life in your hands, nor do you control my freedom. I surrendered to you," he continued even as Kirk opened his mouth to argue, "Because, despite your attempt to convince me otherwise, you seems to have a conscience, Mr. Kirk. If you did not, then it would be impossible for me to convince you of the truth."

"And what truth is that?" he spat.

"2-3, 1-7, 4-6, 1-1," Harrison recited, "Coordinates not far from Earth. If you want to know why I did what I did…go and take a look."

"Give me one reason why I should listen you."

"I can give you 72," Harrison smiled, knowing he'd caught Kirk's attention, "And they are onboard your ship, Captain. They have been, all long. I suggest you open one up."

Kirk gave him one more hard look before he turned and strode out of the room, pulling out his comm. as soon as he was in the hall and out of Harrison's sight. He held it up, waiting till the person he was trying to contact answered, "Scotty, its Kirk."

"Oh, well now," the Scotsman responded loudly, "If it isn't Captain James Tiberius Perfect Hair. Did you hear that?" he hissed at someone else, making Kirk eye the communicator, "I called him Perfect Hair. Though I think my Engineering Enchantress has much finer hair than…"

"Where are you?" Kirk cut in, even though he tried not to let on how irritating it was to hear Scotty (or anyone) call Victoria some sort of pet name like that, he knew it was glaringly obvious. Scotty was, thankfully, the only member of the crew who seemed to do that, give her some sort of name. He and Victoria…they weren't exactly one for lovey-doveyness. Pet names like pumpkin and sweetie and sugar just…weren't them. They actually much rather preferred calling each other Victoria and James, even though it had originally irritated them beyond all belief, because…it was THEM. It was something THEY did that no one else, besides their parents (and even then it was said in a different context), called them. It was special to them in a way stupid pet names weren't.

But that didn't mean he didn't want to punch Scotty in the face every time he called Victoria one.

He knew the man only did it to get to him.

He was succeeding.

"Where are _you_?" Scotty countered.

"Are you drunk?"

"What I do in my private time is my business, Jimbo."

Kirk rolled his eyes at that, yup, Scotty was drunk. The man only used 'pet names' for HIM when he was not exactly sober, "I need you to help me out with something."

"Something my Go…"

"If you don't use her name, Scotty, I will strangle you through the comm.."

"Something Victoria cannae help you with?" Scotty corrected fluidly.

He sighed, "It involves Harrison."

Scotty was silent for only a minute, "What do you need me to do?"

Kirk had to smile at that, at knowing that despite Victoria being half the reason (or most of the reason) that he'd left the Enterprise, Scotty still cared about her and didn't blame her for her treatment of him, "I need you to take these coordinates down 2-3, 1-7, 4-6, 1-1…are you writing?"

"What, you don't think I can remember 4 numbers?" Scotty scoffed, "You have little faith."

Kirk nodded, waiting for it…

"What was the third one?"

He let out a small laugh at that, "46. Don't know exactly what you are looking for," he added, "But...I have feeling you'll know it when you see it," he glanced around a moment, before sighing, "You may have been right about those torpedoes."

"I will consider that an apology, and I will consider that apology."

"_You_ are the one who quit," he reminded the man.

"Victoria sort of forced my hand…"

"I'm sorry about that," Kirk offered, "I know she would be too but…"

"But she's upset," Scotty cut in, "I get it Jim. She just saw her da die, and then, to be given the chance to stop his killer…" he could tell Scotty was shaking his head, "I know that sort of desperation. You want to do anything you can. But Jim…revenge…DON'T let her see it through. That sort of hate…it changes you and I don't want to see my fan…"

"Scotty," he cut in again, rolling his eyes.

Scotty sighed, "I don't want to see _Victoria_ end up like that. 'Cos that isn't her Jim."

"I know," Kirk let out a breath, "I know. Good luck with your mission Mr. Scott."

"Good luck with your crew, Captain," Scotty countered as the call ended.

Kirk stood in the hall for a moment longer, running a hand through his hair and down his face, hoping that Scotty's faith in him wasn't misplaced. Spock had helped snap HIM out of his thoughts on revenge, made him realize how close he was coming to BECOMING Harrison…though he felt the pull towards violent homicide more and more with each second he was forced to be around the man…and he just hoped that HE would be enough to snap Victoria out of it too.

~8~

Kirk reached out and grabbed the hand that was flying towards his face, this time not in a punch but a slap, though he made sure to do so gently, winding his fingers around the wrist of his attacker so as not to hurt their already bruised hand, "Tory wait…" he began, pleading with her NOT to hit him.

He'd gone to the Bridge to find Victoria waiting for him just outside it and he knew the confrontation was imminent. He was honestly surprised she'd lasted so long, especially given the nature of what she was going to go off about. He'd gone up to her, ready to argue his case and she'd spun around and tried to slap him.

"Let go of me James!" she tried to pull her hand away, Kirk having the foresight to grab her other wrist and keep her from slapping him with her other hand too.

"No, just…just listen…Victoria!" he shouted as she pulled away, "Just…hear me out."

"We HAD him," she shook her head, not giving him the opportunity, "We had Harrison right there James. We could have launched the torpedoes and it would all be over," he swallowed hard, seeing tears in her eyes, "But now he's on the ship, he's HERE. He was right in front of me and you STILL didn't do anything! He's still alive while my father's dead!"

"I know," he swallowed, seeing her break down.

"It's not fair," she breathed, her voice breaking as she started to cry.

He moved over to her, pulling her into his arms and holding her tightly, feeling her curl her good hand into the fabric of his shirt, clinging to him as he rubbed her back, "I know it's not."

"Why didn't you stop him?" she whispered, sniffling, "He'd be dead and…"

"And we'd have killed him," He cut in gently, "We'd have murdered him, attacked him and murdered him just like he did Pike," he closed his eyes feeling her wince at that, "I'm sorry Tor…but I couldn't let him do that to us. I just…" he pulled away a little to look at her, his hand touching her cheek, cupping it as he wiped a tear away with the pad of his thumb, "You mean too much to me to let that happen."

"I just want it to be over," she admitted, she just…she wanted Harrison gone. She didn't want the man there of all places. The ship, the Enterprise, was the first ship she and her father had been able to serve on together for even a short time. The Enterprise was the start of it all…and she felt like having Harrison there was just tainting all of it. The man who murdered her father was sitting there in the very ship he'd last served on, and it felt so wrong.

"It will be," Kirk promised, "Soon, but…we have to do this the right way," he looked into her eyes, "We have to do this the way Pike would have wanted it done."

"By the book," they both said at the same time.

Victoria leaned in, resting her forehead to his chest as she took a breath, trying to calm herself, trying to stop the tears, "I hate him."

"I do to," he nodded, moving his hand from her back to stroke her hair slowly, "He WILL pay for what he did, he WILL. I just…I want Pike to be proud of us. You know he won't stop watching us even now."

She smiled at that, her father was always very overprotective of her, "I just hope he won't see everything," she nudged him playfully, feeling…just a little better now for having gotten that out of her system, for hearing his reasons behind the decision to bring Harrison in instead of killing him outright. He was right, her father would have been so disappointed in them if they'd attacked the man in anger, if they'd killed him. He was right too, they'd be no better than Harrison if they took him out the same way that he'd taken her father from her.

She took a breath and looked up at him, reaching up her good hand to touch his face as well, "Thank you," she murmured, her thumb tracing just below a cut on his cheek from the Klingon attack.

"You're welcome," he winked at her.

She looked at him a long while, everything that had happened with her father and the funeral and someone as dangerous as Harrison being there…it made her realize something. Life was truly far too short and…why should she wait for Kirk to say how he felt about her first? She felt how she felt and…he deserved to know. He deserved to know how much she cared about him, appreciated him, and…loved him. She didn't trust Harrison at all, not to not harm any of them and not to even be able to be restrained in his cell, and…she just…she wanted him to know. She didn't want it to be one of those cliché moments where they were in the heat of battle or one of them was injured and dying to tell him what she felt for him…she wanted him to know without any sort of threat behind it.

"James…" she began slowly, "I…I just wanted you to know that…I…"

"Are you out of your corn-fed mind?!"

She let her head drop forward onto Kirk's chest again, hearing Bones striding out of the Bridge where she knew he and Spock had been watching the entire conversation with Harrison on the viewscreen. She'd been able to hear it, muffled through the door, it was another reason she had been angrier before. They were all aware, especially when they'd heard Kirk give the order to engineering to pull one of the torpedoes, that he was going to do as Harrison suggested and crack one open. Clearly Bones had just realized Kirk was standing out there and felt the need to express his disagreement…he had the worst timing ever.

"You're not actually going to listen this guy!" Bones continued, walking backwards as Kirk headed into the Bridge after having looked at her questioningly for what she was going to say and having her shake her head that she'd tell him later, "He killed Pike," Bones faltered on that word, almost forgetting who was standing right beside Kirk, though the man was glad that Victoria had her hand around Kirk's hand instead of around the Captain's neck like he'd feared (and had a bet going) she'd do, "He almost killed you and Vick and Spock, and now think it's a good idea to pop open a torpedo because he dared you to do it?"

"Why did he save our lives, Bones?" Kirk countered.

"The doctor does has a point, Captain," Spock turned to them, watching curiously as Kirk absently moved Victoria to sit in the captain's chair with him resting on the armrest of it instead.

"Don't agree with me, Spock," Bones grimaced, "It makes me very uncomfortable."

"Perhaps you too should learn governing yours emotions, doctor. In this situation, logic dictates..."

"Logic! My god. There's a maniac trying to make us blow up our own damn ship, and you're talking about..."

"Look," Victoria cut in, "Even…even_ I _can admit there has to be something behind why he surrendered so easily," she sighed, rubbing her head, "He wants to be closer to the torpedoes for some reason, we need to know WHY."

"So," Kirk nodded, "If we're going to open a torpedo the question is how?"

"But Jim," Bones shook his head, "Without Mr. Scott on board who exactly is qualified to just pop-open a four ton stick of dynamite?" he knew as well as Kirk did that Victoria was more for the building of things and fixing them than disarming an active weapon. One wrong move and the torpedo would go off.

"Carol," Victoria suggested, "She was looking at the torpedoes anyway…"

"Yes," Spock nodded, "The Admiral's Daughter IS a weapons specialist," Victoria let out a breath at that, she should have known Spock would go snooping with Carol on the ship, being another science officer, she'd seen Spock feel a little threatened, of course the Vulcan would do digging on her, she just…hadn't expected him to discover her parentage so soon, "Perhaps she could be of some use."

"Carol's which Admiral's daughter?" Kirk frowned.

"Marcus's," Victoria explained, shrugging as Kirk looked at her, "We grew up together, her father is Admiral Marcus. He didn't assign her to the ship, she snuck on…I'm guessing because of the torpedoes."

"And YOU," Kirk added, knowing that Carol's concern for Victoria was genuine, even if she was here for the torpedoes, she was also there for her friend in her time of need. He sighed and looked at them, "Victoria, check with engineering for our progress, I'll go see Dr. Marcus about the torpedoes."

Victoria nodded and got up to follow him out, heading towards engineering to check up on Chekov.

~8~

"Are the torpedoes in the weapons-bay?" Carol asked as she followed Kirk through the halls, having been called out of one of the science labs with the request of helping them disarm one of the torpedoes to crack it open…something she had, admittedly, been dying to do since she'd first learned about them.

"Loaded and ready fire," Kirk sighed, glancing at her, "What are they?"

"I don't know," she remarked, "That's another reason why I forged my transfer onto your ship to find out why…"

"The first reason being Victoria?" he guessed.

She smiled at that, "She hates it when people call her that."

"I'm not people," he smirked.

"No," she agreed, "You're not," not to Victoria at least, he was…a bit too cocky for her tastes, she'd heard tale upon tale from other women about the nature of one James T. Kirk, stories that didn't seem to fit the man he was around Victoria, which…made sense, he didn't appear to let anyone call him James except her, "I do apologize though," she added, "If I caused you any problems I _am_ sorry. I'm sure Vicky told you, but…I'm Carol Marcus."

"She did," he nodded, "But it's nice to meet you, Carol Marcus. Now, the torpedoes…"

Carol shook her head at that, seeing him getting right back to point, another thing that was unlike the stories she'd heard, "Torpedoes," she gave him a nod in return, "My father gave me access to every program he oversaw. When I heard he was developing these prototype torpedoes I went to confront him about it, he wouldn't even see me. That's when I discovered the torpedoes had disappeared from all official records."

"And then he gave them to me."

"You're much cleverer than your reputation suggest, Captain Kirk," she teased him, "Though you'd have to be to keep up with Vicky," she knew her friend wasn't THAT clever, according to her Kirk had a genius-level intellect, and she knew Victoria was rather fond of smart blokes.

"I have reputation?" Kirk blinked, almost surprised by that…almost. He knew he'd had one in the Academy and in Iowa, he'd hoped to make a better one as a Captain, but…it felt like so long ago that he'd been the sort of man to have some sort of reputation that he'd almost forgotten about it.

"Yes you do, I'm also a friend of Christine Chapels."

"Christine, yes," he nodded slowly, clearing his throat to cover that he was drawing a complete blank as to who she was, "How is she?"

"She transferred to the outer frontier to be a nurse, she's much happier now."

"That's good," he led her to a shuttle for her to examine if it would be up to par to tote a torpedo.

"You have no idea who I'm talking about, do you?" Carol smirked.

"To be honest, I really only remember a few names."

"Victoria being one of them?" she felt like she had to ask that, all the stories she'd heard…seeing Kirk so different, she honestly wasn't sure if it was some sort of ruse or ploy to get closer to her friend. He really wasn't acting at all like she'd thought he would.

"That's the name I'll never forget," he quipped, smiling, making her smile again.

She nodded, pleased with that answer, "Is this Shuttle prepped to fly?"

"Of course it is," he glanced at her, turning it on.

"Would you please turn around," she requested.

He blinked, confused, "Why?"

"Just turn around," she gave him a look till he did so, turning his back on her, listening to her even as he stood there, "It's too dangerous to try and open one of these a torpedoes on the Enterprise. But there is a nearby planetoid, I can open up one up there. But I will need some help..." she stopped suddenly when he turned around to see her standing there in her knickers, having been trying to change into one of the suits they'd need to walk on the planet with, "Oh my god," she stared at him, shocked.

"What?" he shook his head.

But Carol continued to stare…till she realized what she as doing, "Sorry it's just…you're looking in my _eyes_," she told him. There she was, standing in her skivvies…and he was actually looking in her eyes and not at her chest.

Kirk just shrugged at that, as though he hadn't even realized he'd done it, before turning around to give her privacy again.

Carol stood there a moment longer, staring at his back, before she started to smile. She was truly hoping that the reason he hadn't looked elsewhere was because of Victoria. With the way she'd heard he treated women…she got the impression he was a two woman man, that there were only two women in his life. The woman he loved (she was so hoping that would be Victoria) and everyone else.

She smiled at that and nodded to herself, turning to get ready once more, Kirk not even tempted to look back at her again.

~8~

"Captain on the bridge!" Sulu called as Kirk stepped back on the Bridge, heading for his chair, seeing Victoria was back at her Liaison post, giving her a small nod as he sat.

"Mr. Sulu," he turned to the man, "Doctors Marcus and McCoy landed on the planetoid, yet?"

"Yes, sir. They're moving the torpedo into the position now."

"Good, any activity from the Klingons?"

"Not yet, but…if we're stuck here much longer they will find us."

Kirk nodded at that, expecting that answer, and glanced at Uhura, "Lieutenant Uhura, did you let Starfleet know that we have Harrison in custody?"

"Yes, sir," she reported, "No response yet."

Victoria turned, hearing a transmission coming in, "Engineering to Bridge. Hello, Wictoria, can you hear me?"

"I can hear you Chekov," she called back, "What's the status? Did you find the leak?"

"Exactly where you suspected it would be," Chekov replied, "But the damage is substantial. We are working on it."

"And we still don't know what caused it?" she frowned, she'd been going through the readings and reports from just before they'd fallen out of warp, but there was no sign of anything wrong. Whatever it was…it had been planned out very carefully.

"No, but I accept full responsibility."

"Don't," she shook her head even if he couldn't see her, "It wasn't your fault Chekov. Keep me posted."

"Aye," the boy agreed.

"Any news?" Kirk looked over t her as she turned in her chair.

"The leak's been found and is being dealt with," she told him, "But they don't know what created it in the first place just yet. I can go help them examine it after the torpedo's dealt with. Now that they've found it, I might be able to figure it out."

Kirk nodded at that when Sulu called out, "Shuttle is standing by, Captain."

"Bones," he turned back to the monitor, watching as two blinking lights landed on a small sphere, the planet, the view screen zooming in on their location, "Thanks for helping out. Dr. Marcus asked for steadiest hands on the ship."

"You know," Bones remarked, "When I dreamt about being stuck on a deserted planet with a gorgeous woman, there was no torpedo."

"Keep in mind Bones, Carol's my friend…OFF limits," Victoria warned.

"And you're MY friend and that didn't stop Kirk, did it Vick?" Bones muttered, even though Kirk technically knew Victoria before him.

Carol let out a little laugh, "She lets you call her Vicky?"

"Yeah?" Bones remarked.

"She's only ever let me do that," Carol mused, and Victoria could just imagine her glancing at Bones with a smile on her face.

"Well we're just two peas in a pod then," Bones laughed, Kirk shaking his head and glancing at Victoria, "So, how can these legendary hands help you Dr. Marcus?"

"Bones," Kirk grumbled, though he and Victoria had a strong feeling they knew where this was going to lead, Bones and Carol WERE both doctors, they had…quite a lot in common actually. Carol had had to put up with HER periodically, Bones had been saddled with Kirk for the entire Academy run and on the Enterprise.

You wouldn't find two people more exasperated with their best friends than them.

"To understand how powerful these weapons are we need to open the warhead," Carol got down to business, "To do that, we need to access the fuel compartment. Unfortunately for us, warheads on these weapons are live."

"Sweetheart, I once a performed a emergency c-section on a pregnant Gorn. Octuplets, let me tell you those little bastards bite. I think I can work some magic on your missile."

Kirk glanced at Victoria, hearing her let out a small laugh, recalling that moment at the club when a Gorn they'd spotted had gone into labor early…at least it erased the painful memory of it being the day Bones's wife left him…now it was just the day he'd gotten bitten multiple times while delivering Gornlings. He had to smile though seeing her laughing again, even if it was a small one.

He really HAD been worried about her, about her thoughts and drive to see Harrison ended.

"Dr. McCoy," Carol began to instruct, "There is a bundle of fiber optic-cables against the inner casing, you'll need to cut the 23rd wire down. Whatever you do, do not touch anything else. Do you understand?"

"Right," Bones sighed, "The thought never crossed my mind."

"Dr. McCoy, wait for my word. I'm rerouting detonation processor. Are you ready?"

"And raring."

"Good luck."

Everyone on the Bridge held their breath, waiting for Bones to cut the wire…only to hear a clamp noise sound and Bones cry out in pain.

"Sir, torpedo just armed itself!" Sulu reported.

Victoria gasped, seeing a reading flashing on her screen from where she was remotely monitoring the torpedo, "James..." she turned in her seat to look at him, actually scared, "30 second to detonation."

A/N: Aww, Victoria snapped out of it a little :) Yay! But...they're not out of danger yet with Khan onboard }:)

I'll have the poll up for the pairing name in about 2 hours so check my profile then if you're interested ;)

Some notes on reviews...

I feel so bad for her hand too lol :) It's sort of a running joke isn't it, she can take someone out with a punch...and always ends up hurting herself to do it, only this time the punch was for her father and not Kirk ;)

Oh Victoria is VERY against what Kirk was going do do with Khan :) I think it was more that, she's been on so many ships and likely seen mutinies happen that she knows that, in such a delicate and dangerous situation with the Klingons and Khan being there, that she knows she can't be as openly opposing of Kirk as she would be. They need a united front or the crew would crumble with strife on the Bridge and Khan would use it to his advantage to manipulate them :( But she definitely let him know what she thinks here ;)


	7. Khan

Khan

"What the hell happened?" they could hear the struggle in Bones's voice, "I can't get my arm out!"

"Target clear signal," Kirk jumped to his feet, turning to Spock who was handling the transport, "Beam them back right now."

"Transporter cannot differentiate between Dr. McCoy and torpedo," Spock shook his head, frowning at that, that had…never happened before, "We cannot beam back one without the other."

"Dr. Marcus," Kirk turned to the viewscreen again, "Can you disarm it?"

"I'm trying," Carol panted, frantic, "I'm trying!"

"Jim get her the hell out of here!" Bones shouted.

"No!" Carol cut in, "If you beam me back, he dies. Just let me do it."

"10," Bones swallowed, starting to count, "9, 8…"

"Standing by to transport Dr. Marcus on your command, sir," Spock looked to Kirk as he stood there, unsure of what to do.

"4, 3..."

"Shit!" Carol cried, ripping something from the sound of it…and the clamp noise sounded again, but more of a releasing noise.

"Deactivation successful, Captain," Sulu let out a breath.

"Oh thank god," Victoria put a hand to her racing heart at that, before she glanced at Kirk, "Why do I get the feeling they're going to be the next us?" she joked a little, hearing Carol shouting at them to let her stay with Bones, to save him, hearing Bones shouting at them to get Carol out of there, to save her…it reminded her a little of her and Kirk.

Kirk let out a laugh at that, "No one's like us," he told her, sending her a wink, before calling out to the comm., "Dr. McCoy, are you alright?" but the feed was silent, "Bones?"

"Jim?" Bones came back a moment later, sounding…stunned, "You and Vick are going to want to see this."

Kirk frowned at that, "See what?"

"There's a body in here," Bones told them, "There's a body frozen in the torpedo."

~8~

Carol looked up, hearing some sort of muffled argument or struggle going on just beyond the doors to the medbay. She didn't even need the doors to open or to hear the person speaking clearly to know who it was. She just barely managed to hide her smile when she saw the doors open and Kirk literally dragging Victoria into the room. The girl in question was struggling though, trying to pull her arm out of Kirk's hold as he tried to tug her in. Victoria was hunched over, her knees locked as they dragged on the floor, her sliding into the room despite her best efforts.

"At least we didn't have to drug her this time," Bones mumbled from beside her, the two of them standing on one side of the torpedo, opened and exposing the body inside it for all to see.

Carol did laugh at that though, she could imagine Victoria needing something to get her into a medical facility of any kind. She really had no idea what the girl had against medical, she wasn't afraid of the instruments, she was ok around people even if they were doctors when NOT in a medical setting (she was friends with Bones after all), she had no issue with blood or injury…she really didn't know why her friend seemed to hate being in medical so much.

"Vic…tor…ia…" Kirk struggled to pull her in but she was putting up a fight, "Stop it!"

"Just let me go James," she twisted her arm in his hold but he wouldn't give in, "I can watch from the Bridge…"

"It's just the medbay," he pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her waist for more leverage as he hauled her further into the room.

"And I hate it," she argued.

"Why?"

"I just do!"

Kirk rolled his eyes, grabbing her arms as she tried to pull his from around her and closed his hands over her own, crossing her arms so she was hugging herself with his arms over her, finally making it to the torpedo, "Before she escapes," he turned to Bones, speaking quickly, Victoria still trying to struggle though her efforts were not quite helping him focus on Bones and the body, she was a little…too close to him at the moment, he always had trouble concentrating when she was that close, "What have we got?"

"It's quite clever actually," Carol began, hoping if she could make it sound interesting that Victoria would focus on that instead of trying to flee the room, "This fuel container was removed from torpedo and retro fitted to hide this cryo-tube."

"Is he alive?" Kirk tried to glance over Victoria's shoulder at the man lying frozen inside the weapon.

Bones nodded, "But if we try revive him without the proper procedure, we could kill him. This technology is beyond me."

"How advanced, Doctor?" Spock called, entering the room after the duo.

"It's not advanced," Carol corrected, "That cryo-tube is ancient."

"We haven't needed to freeze anyone since we developed warp capability," Bones agreed, "Which explains the most interesting thing about of our friend here. He's 300 years old…"

THAT made Victoria stop squirming as she glanced at the body, "He's looking good for it," she muttered.

Kirk smirked at that, "Maybe he moisturizes."

~8~

"Are you sure about this?" Kirk asked, looking at Victoria as they headed towards the holding cells once more.

Victoria took a breath, nodding, "I won't kill him," she promised.

He'd…shaken her earlier, his words about her father and how if she killed Harrison the way he had Pike then she'd be no better than him. She could admit…she'd killed before, she'd shot at Romulans and Klingons and other enemies in battle, when lives were in true danger, she'd killed yes. To go hunt Harrison and kill him while he was unaware, while he wasn't openly attacking her…that wouldn't make her father proud. No, he'd have been proud if she'd stopped Harrison in the middle of him attacking the crew or her or Kirk, but not while he was hiding away.

"Just…" Kirk reached out for her hand, making her pause before they entered the room, "Be careful," he warned, "Harrison is…he'll try and manipulate us, especially…"

"Me," she nodded, "Because of dad," she sighed, "I get it."

He squeezed her hand once more and turned to head into the room with her, the two of them dropping their hands so as not to give Harrison any more fuel. They knew he likely already gathered how important each of them were to the other, even more so after he'd slipped and called Victoria his wife, but whatever they could do to dissuade him from trying to pit them against each other or use their feelings to get to them they'd do.

"There's a man hidden in the torpedo," Victoria got right to it as they came to stand before Harrison's cell, the man standing there stoically as though waiting for them, "Why?"

"There are men and women in all those torpedoes, Miss Pike," he smirked as she flinched at the name, "Or is it Mrs. Kirk?"

"It's Pike," Victoria frowned at that, confused, as Kirk close his eyes, having hoped that Harrison wouldn't bring that up.

He knew that Victoria had overheard portions of the conversation he'd had with Harrison, but not all of it, only enough to gather that there was something about the torpedoes and that he was going to check one. He sometimes called her his wife in a joking sense, teasing her, or trying to get a rise out of Pike…he didn't want her to know he'd called her his wife like that, so openly and rawly and immediately, without thought, as though he truly (subconsciously) considered her his wife. He didn't want her to know especially since he hadn't even told her he…he hadn't told her he loved her yet. He'd wanted to, god had he wanted to, but then Harrison attacked and with Pike gone and her so…hurt and mourning he'd struggled with whether to tell her or not. He didn't want to seem like he was taking advantage of her.

He knew that was how a few others felt, he saw how they looked at him at times, like he was just using Victoria to advance his career in the Fleet. Some people who knew who she was, who her father was, thought he'd been doing that. Half of them stopped thinking that when they realized he hadn't known her last name till after the attack on Vulcan. The other half thought he was faking and had known all along who she was. Others who saw them together thought that he stayed with her after he'd learned who she was for the same reason, to get ahead, to get on Pike's good side. They didn't stop to think that Pike wouldn't have hesitated to KILL him if he dared hurt the man's daughter and that schemes like that always came out so why would he risk it unless he truly loved Victoria? He hated those people who thought he was with her for her name and family legacy. He'd seen a few looks on his own crew's face, they were surprised he was STILL with her after Pike died or thought that he was just not leaving her because it would be disgusting for him to leave a woman after she'd suffered such a loss.

He knew his reputation in the Academy left something to be desired with the women, but…Victoria wasn't women, she was ONE woman, THE woman. And he was going to do anything he could to prove that to everyone, Victoria…she was it for him.

He just…had to work up the nerve to tell her that.

"I put them there," Harrison continued, making them look at him.

"Who the hell are you?" Kirk asked.

"A remnant of the time long past," Harrison sighed.

"A little less poetry would be great," Victoria shot him a glare.

"Genetically engineered to be superior so as to lead others to peace in a world at war," Harrison elaborated, "Better?" she nodded, "We were condemned as criminals, forced into exile. For centuries we slept, hoping when we woke, things would be different. But as a result of the destruction of Vulcan your Starfleet began to aggressively search distant quadrants of space. My ship was found adrift, I alone was revived."

"I searched for John Harrison," Victoria told him, "I even hacked into the system to do it. You don't exist, not since a year ago."

"John Harrison was fiction created the moment I was awoken by your Admiral Marcus to help him advance his cause. A smoke screen to conceal my true identity. My name is Khan."

"Why would a Starfleet admiral ask a 300 year old frozen man for help?" Kirk shook his head.

"Because, I am better."

"At what?"

"Everything."

"I doubt that," Victoria shot back.

Khan tilted his head at her, "I would be more than happy to prove it in any manner you see fit."

"You are NOT kissing me," she glared at him, stepping closer to Kirk, making the Captain's cheeks actually tint pink at just what Victoria thought Khan would NOT be the best at and feeling a rather large inflow of male pride at that.

Khan gave her a look that was a cross between a curious sort of disgust and the fear that she'd gone mad, before he decided to ignore her outcry and continue with his own lament, "Alexander Marcus needed to respond to an uncivilized threat in a civilized time. And for that he needed a warrior's mind, _my_ mind, to design weapons and warships."

"You are suggesting the Admiral violated every regulation he vowed to uphold simply because he wanted to exploit your intellect," Spock spoke up, entering the room and stepping over to Victoria and Kirk.

"He wanted to exploit my savagery," Khan corrected, not sounding at all disturbed to describe himself as savage, "Intellect alone is useless in a fight, Mr. Spock. You…you cannot even break a rule, how would you be excepted to break bone?" he shook his head, "Marcus used me to design weapons. To help him realize his vision of militarized Starfleet. He used you," he glanced at Victoria, "Your grief to fuel the need to 'hunt me down.' He sent you," he turned his attention back to Kirk, "To use those weapons, to fire my torpedoes on an unsuspecting planet. And then he purposely crippled your ship in enemy space, leading to one inevitable outcome…the Klingons would come searching whomever was responsible, and you have no chance of escape. Marcus...would finally have the war he talked about, the war he always wanted."

"No," Kirk shook his head at that, not believing, not wanting to believe Marcus was capable of something like that, not the man who had been the one to recruit Pike. It wasn't even that Pike had doubts about the Fleet, like Victoria had, no, he'd always known he wanted to be a member of it, but every Cadet needed a recruiter to vouch for them, and Marcus had vouched for Pike…unfortunately…he didn't notice Victoria fall silent and still beside him at Khan's words, "No. I watched you open fire in a room full of unarmed Starfleet officers. You killed them in cold blood!"

Victoria reached out and put a hand on Kirk's arm, just…looking at Khan with…disgust, in herself because…she might possibly believe him. Her father had always been dedicated to the Fleet, had raised her to be a member of it one day and while he'd always been by the book, by the Fleet's book, she DID know Marcus. She HAD grown up on a ship where Marcus was the captain once, she'd seen the man in action, she'd seen him interact with his crew, how he acted around his peers, how he treated his daughter. He loved Carol, yes, but…for how set on the Fleet her own father was, Marcus had always been more strict but in a militant sense. The man struck her as more of a soldier than a captain, a man more suited to be on a battle ship instead of a starship. She was the only one of the crew, besides Carol, who knew what Marcus was like, who had been around him long enough to get a sense of the sort of person he was.

The trouble was…she COULD believe Marcus capable of what Khan had described. She could fully believe that Marcus would want some sort of war, he seemed too sure it would happen when he'd sent them after Khan. She hated that though, she hated believing the man about that, because she knew what that meant for Carol, for the crew, the Fleet…for herself. If Khan was telling the truth…then Marcus was inadvertently truly responsible for her father's death. Marcus's desperation for war had led him to not put Khan back to sleep when he'd first discovered who he was. He'd wanted to use Khan…and now Khan was fighting back.

She closed her eyes a moment, which man was she more angry at? The one who had physically killed her father…or the man who had created the situation and circumstances that had allowed and led to it to happen?

"Marcus took my crew from me," Khan narrowed his eyes at Kirk.

"You're a murderer!" he snapped, stepping forward slightly to put himself just a bit in front of Victoria, having seen her close her eyes beside him, thinking her reaction was a result of him bringing up Pike's death.

"He used my friends to control me. I tried to smuggle them to safety by concealing in them in the very weapons I had designed. But I was discovered," Khan turned away from them, moving to look out the back window as he continued to talk, the three of them silent as they listened, "I had no choice but to escape alone. And when I did, I had every reason to suspect that Marcus had killed every single one of the people I hold most dear. So I responded in kind. My crew...is my family, Kirk," he turned to them suddenly, his eyes bright with tears, one trailing down his cheek, though Victoria shook her head at that, not believing for a moment that Khan was capable of that sort of emotion, he struck her as a sociopath, mimicking emotions, but not feeling them, "Is there anything you would not do for your family?"

Kirk had only just cast Victoria a glance at that, already knowing the answer, there was nothing he wouldn't do for his crew, for his family, for her. He…didn't have much by way of family anymore. His father was gone, his mother remarried and he didn't see her much, though Victoria kept pleading with him to take her to visit the woman, and…really, the only one he had in his life, the only one he could see being in his life to the end of it (however short that might be given his luck) was Victoria. She was…his family, in another life…she was his wife. He would do anything for her.

"Proximity alert, sir," Kirk looked down as a report came over his comm., "There's a ship at warp heading right for us."

"Klingons?" he frowned.

"At warp?" Khan gave him a look, "No, Kirk. I think we all know who it is."

"I don't think so," the man on the comm. agreed, not having heard Khan, "It's not coming at us from Kronos."

"It's Marcus," Victoria nodded as Kirk looked at her, a sinking feeling forming in her stomach as Khan's words proved all the more true. If it really WAS Marcus…then the man was right. There would be no other reason for him to be there unless it was because of Khan.

"Lieutenant," Kirk glanced at one of the other crew members as he and Victoria turned to head out with Spock, "Move Khan to medbay, post six security officers on him."

"Yes, Captain," the man nodded, moving to do just that as the trio rushed out.

~8~

"Captain on the Bridge!" Sulu announced as Kirk strode in.

"ETA on incoming ship?" Kirk wasted no time in getting to task.

As much as he hated to admit it…he was starting to see the logic in what Khan had said, all the little things even Spock had brought up about Marcus's behavior and attitude. The man, who was supposed to be dedicated to peace and Fleet regulations, had ignored all of it and essentially told them to go blow up Kronos for ONE man…there had been worse offenders in the past who had gotten off with lighter sentences. None of them had been as hunted by the Fleet as Harrison nearly had been. So what made this different? What was affecting Marcus so much that he was willing to cause a war to get the man taken out?

The truth was…he didn't want to know, and the reality of it all was that…he was likely about to find out.

"Three seconds, sir," Sulu reported.

"Shields!" Kirk called.

"On it," Victoria moved to help Sulu. While she was usually meant to be the Liaison for Engineering, they all had a basic level of training in different areas of the Bridge, the portions of the crew that were going to be on the Bridge often at least. She could get the shields up at least and get back to her post easily.

She'd just raised them…when an enormous ship came out of warp before them, at least twice as big as the Enterprise, possibly even three times larger, and rather ominous and menacing in the dark of space.

"They're hailing us, sir," Uhura turned to Kirk.

"On screen," he gave the order, "Broadcast ship-wide for the record."

The viewscreen flickered on and Marcus was sitting before them, "Captain Kirk."

"Admiral Marcus," Kirk greeted, glancing at Victoria to see her frowning at the man in what looked like hurt, disappointment, and anger and he knew…she believed Khan as well. Maybe not all of it, given what Khan had done and how easily he'd murdered people, how little remorse he seemed to have, they both doubted that he was as 'kind' and 'hopeful' as he'd tried to make himself and his crew out to be, but there was one thing they did believe…Marcus knew more than he was letting on about and if the man had any hand in what led to Pike's death…he wanted to know, "I wasn't excepting you. That's a hell of a ship you got there."

"And I wasn't expecting to get word that you'd taken Harrison into custody," Marcus countered, "In violation of your orders."

"Our apologies sir," Victoria remarked, "Our warp core developed a fault, a leak," she gave Marcus a meaningful look and Kirk could see it in the man's eyes, in his expression…and he was kicking himself for it.

Marcus, whenever he'd looked at Victoria after Daystrom…had had this terribly guilty expression on his face, like he could literally feel the guilt eating at him. At first he'd thought it was because the man blamed himself for getting Pike involved in the Fleet (even though they all knew Pike would have joined no matter what) but now…he was starting to think that it was because Marcus knew that the man HE had released had been the cause of Pike's death and he was being faced with Pike's daughter's devastation in front of him, knowing it was HIS fault.

He had the same expression on now as Victoria spoke to him, her tone indicating that they knew there was something wrong with the core that was beyond a normal happenstance.

"But you already know that, sir," Kirk frowned at the man.

"I don't take your meaning," Marcus looked back at him.

Kirk shook his head, seeing the apprehension in the man's features, "That's why you are here isn't? To assist with our repairs? Why else would a head of Starfleet personally come to the edge of the Neutral Zone?"

"Captain," Spock warned, "They're scanning our ship."

"Is there something I can help you find, sir?" Kirk gave Marcus a hard look.

"Where is your prisoner Kirk?" Marcus got right to business again.

"As stated in the Starfleet regulations," Victoria began, getting up to move beside Kirk, resting her hand on the back of his captain's chair to lean on it, facing Marcus down. If Kirk was going to challenge the man who had released Khan, she was NOT about to let him do it on his own. Pike was HER father, "It is the duty of the acting captain and his crew to return a fugitive to Earth for a proper trial."

"Well, shit," Marcus cursed, making them frown, "You talked to him," he realized, "Exactly what I was hoping to spare you from Miss Pike," he frowned, seeing her not flinch at the use of her father's name again and looking as though he'd momentarily lost a prime weapon, "I took tactical a risk when I woke that bastard up. Believing that a superior intelligence could help us protect ourselves from whatever came after us next. But I made a mistake. And now the blood of everybody he's killed is on my hands," he looked at Victoria again, "He killed your father Miss Pike, and for that I will never stop being sorry. I had thought you, of all people, would want to see him brought to justice."

Victoria frowned, though she felt Kirk tense and grab one of her hands subtly, "And he will be," she agreed, "TRUE justice, in court. After all, James and I were nearly expelled from the Fleet for breaking the rules again, forgive us for wanting to follow them now."

"Then I am _asking_ you," Marcus amended, "Give him to me, so I can end what I started."

"And what exactly would you like me to do with the rest of his crew, sir?" Kirk scoffed, "Fire at them at the Klingons and end 72 lives? Start a _war_ in process?"

"He _put_ those people in those torpedoes!" Marcus defended, as though that made what he'd ordered them to do ok. The man hadn't even realized that he'd admitted to knowing that the bodies had been in there before he'd given the torpedoes to them, which just disgusted Kirk and Victoria even more. The man knew there were people in there…and he was going to destroy them too, "I simply didn't want to burden you with knowing what was inside of them. You saw what this man can do all by himself. Can you imagine what would happen if we woke up the rest of his crew? What else did he tell you? That he's a peace-keeper? He's playing you, son. Don't you see that? Khan and his crew were condemned to death as war criminals. And now it is our duty to carry out that sentence. Before anybody else dies because of him."

Kirk glanced at Victoria to see her frowning at Marcus with a familiar expression on her face. He really did love how he knew her so well that he knew what every expression meant just from the minutest details. Her current one was a look she often gave others when they said something that implied they thought she or himself were stupid. He had t agree there, hearing Marcus berate them for listening to Khan's claims…it was irritating and annoying and a little disheartening. As though they'd just FALL for that? The man had MURDERED people and walked away. Did he really think they'd believe Khan about being a peaceful being at heart?

If he did, it was a testament to how intelligent Marcus thought they were.

"I'm going to ask you again," Marcus took a breath, seeming to be trying to remain calm, "One last time, son. Lower your shields. Tell me where he is."

Kirk was silent a long while, staring the man down, before he sighed, "He's in Engineering, sir. But I'll have him moved to the transporter room right away."

"I'll take it from here," Marcus gave him a curt nod, cutting the transmission.

"Do _not_ drop those shields, Mr. Sulu," Kirk pointed at the man immediately after.

"Aye Captain," Sulu nodded.

"Captain," Spock walked over to him as he went to Victoria's side, putting his hands on her shoulders to squeeze them, the girl still staring at the viewscreen with a frown on her face, "Given your awareness of Khan's true location in the medbay, may I know the details of your plan?"

"I told Marcus we're bringing a fugitive back to Earth," Kirk explained, "That's what we're going to do," he looked at Victoria, "Think we can warp?"

She shook her head, recalling the last readings and reports Chekov had sent her, "No," she sighed, "We try it, it'll damage the core severely and…"

"But CAN we?"

"We COULD," she countered, "But James…we really SHOULDN'T."

"I'm sorry," he offered her a small smile, "But we need to get Khan back to Earth, if the Fleet sees us appearing, being chased by the Vengeance," he nodded at the viewscreen displaying an image of the other ship, "They'll question why Marcus was after us for merely bringing 'Harrison' back. They'll have to investigate his orders and everything…"

Victoria rubbed her head, getting the feeling she really was going to regret this, "Then we need to hurry."

He gave her a smile for her support, dropping a kiss onto the top of her hair before he headed back to his chair, "Mr. Sulu, set course for Earth."

"Yes, sir," Sulu nodded, doing just that as Kirk watched on.

The second the course was put in, he gave the order, "Punch it," he watched as the stars streaked past the viewscreen as they shot off into space and glanced at Uhura, "Lieutenant Uhura, contact Starfleet, tell them we were pursued into the neutral-zone by an unmarked Federation ship."

Uhura shook her head at that, "Comms. are down, sir."

"Permission to come on the Bridge!" Carol half-ran into the room, shouting to Kirk before recalling herself, years of rules drilled into her by her father making her pause even though she was already technically on the Bridge.

"Dr. Marcus," Kirk nodded her in.

"Carol?" Victoria turned to her, seeing her wide, frightened eyes and how she was panting, having run the entire way, "What's wrong?"

"He's going to catch up to us," Carol warned them, "And when he does the _only_ thing that is going stop him destroying this ship is me. So you have to let me talk to him."

"Carol, we're at warp," Kirk shook his head, "He can't catch up with us."

Victoria frowned, "I wouldn't be too sure…" she murmured as Kirk looked at her, "It should have been impossible to beam aboard a ship at warp, and Scotty managed to get US here," she reminded him, "It should have been impossible to have a portable warp device too…"

Kirk stopped at that, he…hadn't considered that, he hadn't even thought about how they'd beamed aboard the ship even though it had only been barely a year ago.

"He CAN catch us," Carol agreed, "He's been developing a ship that has a volatiles warp capabilities and…"

"Captain," Sulu turned in his chair to face Kirk, a confused frown on his face, "I'm getting a reading I don't understand…"

He couldn't even finish his sentence as the entire room jolted, the ship shaking horribly as it was struck, fired upon by Marcus, damaging it so badly that they fell out of the warp, watching in horror as members of the crew in another area of the ship were sucked out into the vacuum created by the hole the Vengeance had made in its firing.

"Where are we?" Kirk looked to Sulu, needing to know how close they were to Earth, they'd need all the help and witnesses they could get now.

"237,000 kilometers from Earth."

"Damage report!" he turned to Victoria, who was skimming the automated readings quickly.

"Weapons were knocked out," she called, "And the bulkhead's been breached…"

"Where's the damage?" Kirk stared at her, stunned.

"The hull as well," she breathed.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Kirk shouted as they took another hit, "Get us to the Earth, right now!"

"Captain, stop," Carol ran over to him, "Everybody on this ship is going to die, if you don't let me speak to him. Please!" she looked at Kirk pleadingly, "Your crew, will die," she warned him, "You…Vicky…" Kirk stiffened at that, "Please, just let me TRY."

Kirk swallowed hard, glancing at Victoria before turning to Uhura, "Uhura, hail them."

Carol took a breath, looking at Victoria as well as the girl offered her an encouraging nod, "Sir, it's me," Carol began, "It's Carol."

"What are you doing on that ship?!" Marcus demanded as the viewscreen flickered back on once more.

"I heard what you said," she told him instead, "That you made a mistake and now you're doing everything you can to fix it. But, dad," her voice cracked, "I don't believe that the man who raised me is capable of destroying a ship full of innocent of people," she didn't want to believe he was capable for being the cause behind the attack in Daystrom either, knowing what it meant for Victoria, but…he had been the reason, hadn't he? HE had been the one to release Khan and now they were all paying for it, "And…if I'm wrong about that, then you're going to have to do it with me onboard."

They were all silent for a moment as Marcus looked at her…before he smirked, "Actually Carol, I won't."

Carol frowned, not sure what he meant by that…when she suddenly started to glow as the transport lights swirled around her despite her not being in the transport room, "Vick…" she looked at her hands as the lights got bright.

"Carol!" Victoria tried to run to her, but Kirk pulled her back, not about to risk her getting sucked along for the ride.

"Can we intercept the transport signal?" he looked at one of the crew.

"No, sir," a man shook his head.

"Captain!" Carol gasped before she disappeared completely.

"Captain Kirk," Marcus began, his smirk growing wider as they stared at the man in trepidation, "Without authorization, and in league with the fugitive John Harrison, you went rogue in enemy territory. Leaving me no choice…but to hunt you down and destroy you. Lock phasers!"

"Wait, sir," Kirk leapt forward, "Wait!"

But Marcus just cut him off, "I'll make this quick," and turned to one of his men, "Target all our torpedoes…on the Enterprise Bridge."

A/N: Just have to start with, I am SO sorry! I put the poll up but I guess I didn't save it correctly and it wasn't there when I went to check the results last night :( I'll be putting it up again in about 2 hours though. Sorry!

As for the chapter, I'm so excited for the next chapters, I can't believe this'll be over in only 3 days! O.O

Some notes on reviews...

I'm jealous of the girls too, mostly because they have men though lol :) I'm probably projecting a little of what I wish I could have in a relationship onto them, now that I think about it, but I think the world would be amazing if there were more Kirks and Doctors out there ;)

Oh no worries, a majority of my stories are already written out entirely before I post them, so it'll definitely be finished ;) I'm glad you're enjoying the story! :)

I don't think it's wrong, I sort of want Bones and Carol together too ;) I think Kirk and Victoria might ship them too ;)


	8. Deal With the Devil

Deal With the Devil

"Sir," Kirk cried out, "My crew was just…just following my orders. I take…I take full responsibility for my actions. But they were _mine_, and they were mine alone."

"No," Victoria moved to his side, taking his hand in her own, "They were OURs," she looked at him, not about to let him face Marcus alone for two very good reasons.

The first was that…they could have stopped him from going after Harrison. The Fleet in general couldn't strike at the man, couldn't have entered the Klingon space to capture him or attack him. They could have used that as an argument against Kirk doing it, informed other heads of Starfleet what was happening…file a report like Spock had. They could have detained him, locked him up, knocked him out with that pinch that Spock could do and held him back till they worked out what best to do. Hell they could have mutinied if they really felt in necessary. There were SO many different things they could have done to stop Kirk but they hadn't, ALL of them, in doing so, were agreeing to go with Kirk when they easily could have refused of even left the ship, like Scotty had.

What was worse…she knew there were things SHE could have done to keep him from going after Khan and leading to this situation. She had more power over Kirk than his own mother seemed to have at times, certainly more power than the rules of the Fleet. He listened to her, he valued her opinion, he cared about her…it was the reason he was so dead set on getting Khan in the first place. Not only was Pike his recruiter…but HER father. She'd been devastated and Kirk had felt it his duty to see her avenged. And while she felt it keenly, the desire to see Khan destroyed for killing her father, she knew that it wasn't the right thing, not now. If Khan was openly attacking he crew, it would be one thing, but what she and Kirk had been prepared to do was as much murder as what Khan had done. If she'd just realized it sooner, she could have simply asked him to stop.

And he would have.

But she hadn't so this was partially her fault as well and she was stand by him, especially for the second reason. Her mother didn't ever stand by her father whenever he had to made difficult choices or decisions. The more and more her father got involved in the Fleet, the higher up he worked in terms of titles, the less her mother stood by him. She knew how difficult it could be to be captain, to be responsible for all the lives under you, to know that every single decision didn't just affect you anymore but an entire ship's worth of people… and Kirk was trying his best. It was the least she could do to stand at his side no matter what, to show him that she believed in him and that she was with him through it all.

She was not her mother, she would not abandon the man she loved. Come hell or high water (or torpedoes) she was going to stand beside him as he faced down Marcus.

Kirk let out a small breath, seeming to gather all that from the look Victoria sent him but was unable to smile at her for it as the situation really was far too dire. He settled for squeezing her hand in return and turned back to Marcus, "If I transmit Khan's location to you now, all that I ask is that you spare them. Please, sir. I'll do _anything_ you want. Just let them live."

Marcus was silent a long while, seeming to be contemplating Kirk's moving words but Victoria only felt a weight settle in her stomach, a horrible feeling of foreboding hitting her at the man's expression. For some reason she couldn't help but think that the man was just trying to drag it out, to give Kirk false hope. She wasn't sure if she might have seen that expression on the man's face before when she'd been younger and was associating the two now, or if she just didn't think Marcus had a decent bone left in his body.

It was probably both.

Though her fears were confirmed when Marcus remarked, "That's a hell of an apology," and followed it with, "But, if it is any conciliation...I was never going to spare your crew. Fire at will."

The entire Bridge stood there in stunned silence as the monitor just flickered off.

"Coward won't watch," Victoria muttered darkly from beside Kirk at how Marcus had cut the transmission off before he could see his handiwork up close. He squeezed her hand even more and looked at her, devastated.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, before turning to face the rest of the startled crew, all of them quiet, tears in their eyes, "I'm so sorry…"

Sulu looked down at his scans of the enemy ship, watching in horror as the ship powered up, and closed his eyes, waiting for the blast…but nothing came. He frowned and opened his eyes again to see his scan blinking with a report that made his heart restart and himself begin to breathe again, "Their weapons are powered _down_, Sir!"

It was a miracle.

"Enterprise, can you hear me?" a voice called over the comms., making Victoria laugh, it wasn't a miracle, it was Scotty!

"Scotty?" Kirk stared up as though expecting Scotty to be on the ceiling for a moment before recalling the comms..

"Guess what I found behind Jupiter," Scotty chuckled.

"The Vengeance?" Victoria guessed with a laugh, so relieved not just to hear from the Scotsman but to know that he'd stopped the Vengeance from attacking them, giving them time to come up with a plan.

"Aye lovely lady," Scotty laughed, "Take that Perfect Hair!" he called, "You cannae hit me now!"

Kirk rolled his eyes and shook his head though he had a smile on his face despite Scotty calling Victoria yet another name. Sometimes, if Scotty got a little too bold (though they both knew that Scotty never said any of the names he called Victoria with any true seriousness), he'd give the man a whack on the back of the head for it. Or throw something at him. Or grab the man by the ear and drag him off. Or threaten to give him a demerit. Or…well, there was a lot of things that he did whenever Scotty called Victoria a pet name.

"I snuck onboard," Scotty explained quickly, "And, seeing as I've just committed an act of treason against a Starfleet admiral, I'd really like to get off this bloody ship. Now beam me out!"

"Just hold tight a minute Scotty," Victoria smiled.

"You're miracle worker," Kirk agreed, "We're little low on power right now. Standby, standby."

"What do you mean low on power?" Scotty cut in, "What happened to the Enterprise?! Please tell me you did not let the Captain near the engineering controls my Crafty Crafter?"

"Crafty Crafter?" Victoria actually almost snorted at that, Scotty must have been running out of names, he always tried to have different names for her but after a year of it, he seemed to finally be running out.

"Just tell me that you protected the engines from Mr. Muscles!"

"For once Scotty, it wasn't James's fault…"

"Hey!" Kirk shouted.

"Well then who…" Scotty suddenly cut himself off, "I'll call you back!"

"Scotty?" Victoria frowned as the comm. went to static. She glanced at Kirk, worried for Scotty and he gave her a nod, deciding what to do.

"Spock, our ship, how is she?" Kirk turned to the Vulcan.

"Our options are limited, Captain," Spock reported, "We cannot fire and we cannot flee."

He let out a breath and looked at Victoria, "Any chance we can fix the ship before they get their power back up?"

She shook her head, "I can try," she offered, "I might be able to boost our shields a little more, maybe get the engines going enough to get us safely to Earth, but we won't be able to do much. I'd have to see the engines first to be sure."

"Right, then you go check them out and then head back here, I'll…"

"No," she cut in.

"What?"

"James," she gave him a look, "I know what you're going to do," she said quietly, "I'm NOT letting you do it by yourself."

It wasn't hard to work out what Kirk was planning to do with Scotty trapped on the other ship along with Carol too. He was going to go after them. If the ship couldn't move, then Kirk would move himself to the other ship. Scotty, since he was there and roaming around, would be able to get the doors open, maybe to an airlock. But once he got in…he'd need to find a way out, he'd need to find a way to get Carol back too and probably arrest Marcus…which meant he'd need to know the inner layout of the ship.

The only one who knew that…was Khan.

He was the LAST person she was EVER going to let Kirk go anywhere with on his own. She'd jumped off a shuttle and onto a planet, she could do it, there was no fire between them and the Vengeance, she'd be fine. She could go and she could do it. She didn't trust Khan at all and she was never going to risk Kirk's safety with the man.

"You have to," he told her, putting his hands on her shoulders, "Because I'm appointing you acting Captain."

She blinked and stared at him, a cross between exasperated that he was doing that to her again and startled that he was essentially overlooking Spock, his First Officer, the one who was meant to take over when he wasn't there, for Captain, "You're joking…" was all she settled for, it fit both her feelings she thought.

"Captain," Spock took a step forward, able to hear them despite being so quiet, his hearing was exceptional after all, "It is not typical for a First Officer to be…"

But Kirk ignored him for a moment, looking at Victoria, "If the roles were switched with the volcano, we know what would have happened," was all he had to say for her to understand his reasons for appointing her as captain.

If the roles had been reversed, they were almost sure Spock would have let him die in the volcano for his beloved Prime Directive. Well…that was probably a bit harsh, she would NOT have let Spock allow Kirk to die, no one would, they'd argue, they'd convince him to help Kirk, they'd have gotten him to rescue the captain…they WOULD have seen Kirk safe once more, but not without the challenge of getting through to Spock.

"I need someone I know will break whatever rules they have to," Kirk added to her, "The one time it ends up being a good thing right?" he gave her a soft chuckle, reaching out to touch her cheek, "And…I hope you will, do what you have to to get me back because um…" he glanced around, seeing people were watching him and returned his gaze to her, "There's something I need to tell you when this is over. Ok?"

She let out a breath but nodded, "Ok."

She was going to hate this, SO MUCH, she really did NOT want to be captain at all. Especially not now, not when it was going to mean being responsible for a broken ship, an entire crew, a leaking warp core, two of their crew held as hostages in a way, and a captain going off with a known fugitive and murderer…this was going to end in the worst way, she knew, and…she was scared. To be in charge of that, one wrong move and everyone would pay dearly for it. One wrong action and Kirk, Carol, and Scotty would be trapped.

But Kirk needed her to do this for him, he needed to know that there was someone he could trust watching out for him. He trusted Spock, she knew he did, but…he was also aware that the Vulcan would hesitate even if he ultimately ended up breaking the rules, and that hesitation could mean the difference between life and death.

Kirk nodded in return and looked at Spock, "I expect you to help her, Commander," he gave Spock a long look.

"Of course," Spock agreed, feeling…a sting of pain in his chest to realize why Kirk was assigning Victoria to the role of captain instead of himself.

He had no qualms with Victoria, she was a…genuine person. For all her rule breaking and bending, she WAS well versed in the rules and regulations of the Fleet and he had often found himself engaging in intellectually stimulating debates with her, mostly over ethics and the length a rule could be stretched before it was considered broken. She made him question some of the rules he had never thought much on before. Her mind, the way she found loopholes in phrasing, it was clearly he result of years with Kirk and needing to get out of trouble, but the results were surprising and very…contemplative for him. He hadn't considered just how some rules almost seemed to contradict other regulations and vice versa. It had surprised the crew, he believed, when they'd seen the two of them engaging in their first debate on the subject, all of them too familiar with Victoria and Kirk's favored method of debate, shouting and arguing. But he and Victoria had merely had a calm, rational discussion, no raised voices, no yelling, no digging remarks, just pure logic.

He would admit that…Victoria and Kirk surprised him after their initial mission together. He had assumed Kirk to be an arrogant, cheating, ignorant man whose lack of care for the rules could only be matched by the size of his ego. Equally he'd thought Victoria a patronizing, violent, reckless woman who was more likely to defend someone in a misconstrued emotional attachment than to see the wrongs said person had done. They both irritated him and…interested him with how different they were to what he'd assumed them to be. Kirk was truly a brilliant strategist, he was a genuinely kind-hearted man who cared for his crew, and his compassion for others made him want to do the right thing for those in need. Yes, he did have an ego, but it was constantly checked by Victoria, her own ridiculous issues were tempered by Kirk as well. Victoria had the potential to be quite the logician, only using violence as a means to prevent more violence before it could actually turn violent, and she actually thought her actions out quite far ahead. She would be just as likely to jump into something as Kirk, but she noticed more than the Captain did and was able to plan a little better for it, take an extra moment or two to truly see a strategy unfolding.

They…surprised him.

"Uhura," Kirk turned to the woman, pulling Spock out of his thoughts, "When you get Scotty back, patch him through."

"Yes, sir," Uhura nodded.

"Mr. Spock, you have the comm.," Kirk told him, "Victoria, go check the engines."

Victoria nodded and headed out of the room, Kirk going after her, only for Spock to follow him as well, "Captain, I strongly object…"

"To what?" Kirk cut in, "I haven't said anything yet."

"Since we cannot take the ship from the outside, the only way we can take it is within and, as a large boarding party would be detected, it is optimum for you take as few members of the crew as possible. You will meet resistance, requiring personnel with advanced combat abilities and innate knowledge of that ship. This indicates that you plan to align with Khan, the very man we were sent here to destroy. Something, I believe, Liaison Pike has worked out as well."

"Yes she has," Kirk nodded as he glanced back to see Victoria disappear around a corner at the other end of the hall, heading for Engineering while he went for the medbay, "And that's exactly why I've appointed her as captain."

Spock blinked, "As a means to force her to remain on the Enterprise."

Kirk sighed, "I do NOT want her anywhere near Khan while on the enemy ship," Kirk agreed, it was the only way he could think to keep her there. He hated to do it, to make her responsible for the crew, for the ship as it was falling apart, it was too much to ask anyone, but…he didn't trust Khan and he knew, he KNEW that if he brought Victoria with him, it would be all too easy for Khan to grab her or use her as leverage or bait or just use her against him. The more distance he could put between her and the man, the safer he'd feel she was, "But make no mistake Spock, I'm not aligning with him, I'm using him. The enemy of my enemy is my friend my."

Spock considered those words as they strode along a bridge, "An Arabic proverb attributed to a prince who has been betrayed and decapitated by his own subjects."

"Still, it's a hell of quote."

"I would like to request, then, that I go with you, Captain."

"No," Kirk shook his head, "I already told you Spock, I need you on the Bridge to help Victoria."

"I can't allow you to do this," Spock argued, "And I believe Victoria would be most appreciative if I were to accompany you than to stay with her. It is, after all, my function aboard this ship to advise you making the wisest decisions possible, something I firmly believe you are incapable doing in this moment."

"You're right," Kirk let out a soft breath, stopping in the middle of a hall to face him, "I'm too overwhelmed," he could admit, "I'm angry, I'm scared, I'm worried…I can't stop thinking about what if it had been Tory that Khan had hit instead of Pike," he swallowed hard, having not even admitted that to Victoria yet, but knowing Spock wouldn't breathe a word of it, "My crew is in danger, my ship is damaged, our warp core is leaking, and my wife is going t be in charge of all of that."

Spock eyed him for calling Victoria his wife yet again.

"And I have to put her in that position," he continued, "What I am about to do…it doesn't make any sense, it's not logical, it is a gut feeling. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. I only know what I _can_ do. The Enterprise and her crew needs someone in that chair who knows they're doing."

"And that is Victoria?"

"You're damn right it is," he nodded, "She may hate it, and she may focus on engineering, but she's…" he shook his head, "She's Pike's daughter, she's a natural captain. I wouldn't have done half the things I did if not for her advice Spock. So I need you there…to give HER advice now too. I need you to protect her while I can't. Will you?"

Spock took a deep breath and straightened, nodding, "I will."

Kirk gave him a nod in return and clapped him on the shoulder, "Thank you."

~8~

Kirk half-stormed into the medbay, needing to get to Khan and needing to get them both out of the ship and into the Vengeance as soon as possible, their window of opportunity wouldn't last long according to Victoria and he trusted her knowledge of engineering. If she could work out half a dozen ways to get power back to a starship, safe betting was that the crew of the Vengeance could come up with a dozen.

"Tell me everything you know about that ship," he demanded of Khan, not even giving the man a moment to open his mouth in what he was sure would be some sort of snide greeting.

"Dreadnought Class," Khan listed, "Two times the size, three times the speed, advanced weaponry, modified for minimal crew. Unlike most Federation vessels, it is built solely for combat."

"I will do everything I can to make you answer for what you did to Victoria, to her father, to the other men who died that night," he swore to Khan, "But right now I need your help."

"In exchange for what?" Khan smirked.

Kirk's jaw clenched to have to negotiate with the man, but there was little other choice, "You said you'd do anything for your crew. I can guarantee their safety."

"Captain," he let out a mocking laugh, "You can't even guarantee safety of your _own_ crew."

Kirk looked away at that, covering the revealing move with a call to Bones as he sat there with a ball of brown fur on a small table before him, a syringe in his hands, "Bones, what are you doing with that Tribble?"

"Tribble's dead," Bones replied, "I'm injecting Khan's platelets into the deceased tissues of a necrotic host. Khan's cells regenerate like nothing I've ever seen, I want to know why."

Kirk nodded and turned back to Khan, "You coming with me or not?"

Khan merely grinned in reply.

~8~

"You want to do what?!" Scotty's voice came over the comm. in Kirk's hand as he strode through the halls with Khan, the two men preparing for what was probably going to be the most idiotic space jump in history, "Where's my perfect…"

"Enough with the names Scotty," Kirk cut in, knowing he was about to give yet another name for Victoria, "We don't have the time and one more name and I'll strangle you the second I see you again."

"Well," Scotty huffed, seeming unperturbed by Kirk's threat, it was just one of thousands of unfulfilled ones he'd heard over the last year or so, "Where is she then? She can't have agreed to let you do this?"

"Victoria doesn't have a say in what I can or can't do."

Scotty snorted loudly at that, "Careful Captain, I might just tell her you said that."

"Scotty, listen…we're coming over there," Kirk insisted, actually hoping Scotty WOULDN'T tell Victoria he'd said that, she…actually had a rather large say in the things he did, even if it wasn't verbal, sometimes she'd give him an encouraging or disappointed look, other times he'd just think about what her reaction to him doing something would be and that would be enough to go for it or avoid it, "Sulu is maneuvering the Enterprise into positioning as we speak."

"This ship? How?"

"There's a cargo door in hanger 7," Khan informed him, "Access port 101A. You need to find a manual override to open that airlock."

"Are you crazy?" Scotty scoffed, "Whoever you are."

"Just listen to him, Scotty," Kirk cut in, "It's going to be alright."

"It is_ not_ going to be alright. You want me to open an airlock into space where upon I will freeze, die, and explode. And don't think for a minute, Captain, that Tory won't give you hell for letting me and my engineering genius die such a painful death. I'm the only one who gets her engineering jokes!"

Kirk just rolled his eyes and ended the transmission.

~8~

"Captain?" Spock asked as he entered the Bridge to see Victoria was already there, a worried look on her face, clearly what she'd seen in engineering hadn't been favorable. She was standing there, her arms crossed before her, frowning as she looked at the Vengeance floating before them on the viewscreen.

Victoria let out a sigh at that title and glanced at Spock, "Mr. Spock…do you think it might be possible that…someone on New Vulcan might be able to shed more light on who Khan is and the nature of his threat to the Fleet?"

Spock blinked, knowing who she was referring to but unaware she was aware that he'd met his future self, it was not something one really talked openly about for fear of their sanity being questioned by others. He knew that his future self had met them, it had been obvious to him, but he hadn't known that she or Kirk knew HE was aware of his future self's existence.

It was a clever question in that sense, vague enough where he could easily say no if he had no idea what she was talking about, or yes if he did, and likely would confirm her thoughts and suspicions that he knew of 'Spock Prime' as he'd taken to calling his future self in his mind.

"I believe it may be possible, yes," Spock nodded, before turning to Uhura, "Lieutenant, from our current position is it possible to establish contact with New Vulcan?"

"I'll do my best," Uhura offered.

"Thank you."

Victoria sighed and glanced at the captain's chair in dread, forcing herself to go sit down, it was still warm from when Kirk had sat there, "Mr. Sulu…" she looked at the Vengeance again, "Have our scans picked up anything from the Vengeance yet?"

Sulu shook his head, "Their systems are still offline, I'm aligning our ship now."

"Good," she swallowed hard, Spock eyeing her with concern as she gripped the arms of the chair so tightly her knuckles turned white. She tried to take a breath, tried to calm down but…the thought of Kirk being alone with the man who had murdered her father put her on edge, "James?" she called, activating the comm. to the trash exhaust where she knew Kirk and Khan were getting set up in their jump suits, "Are you in position?"

"Affirmative," Kirk called back, "How're are we doing over there Mr. Scott?"

"Captain, I wish had better news," Scotty's voice picked up, "They blocked our access to the ship's computer. They'll have full weapons in three minutes. Next time I won't be able to stop them destroying the Enterprise, standby."

"Liaison Pike…" Sulu began, "I mean, um, Captain…"

"Really Sulu, just call me Victoria," she cut in, feeling like she'd already had this conversation with Chekov.

"Victoria," Sulu corrected, "Our trash exhaust is aimed at access port 101A of the other ship."

"Hear that James?"

"Copy that," Kirk called, "Scotty?"

"I'm in the hangar, give me a minute," Scotty sounded like he was panting now, "I'm running, standby…whoa, whoa, whoa," he gasped, "Hold on there, captain. This door is very wee, I'm mean, you know, small. It's 4 square meters tops. It's going to be like…jumping out of moving a car, off a bridge, into your shot glass."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Victoria smiled at the memory.

"I've done it before," Kirk agreed, "Remember that Tor? I was vertical, we jumped down to a..." he cleared his throat suddenly and they could all guess that Khan had likely given him a look for it, "Right, it was just a bet you know, it um…it doesn't matter. Scotty!"

"Did you find the manual override?" Khan inquired.

"Manual override Scotty?" Kirk repeated a second later, trying to maintain his control and seem serious for once.

"Not yet," Scotty mumbled, "Not yet."

"Captain," Spock interrupted, "Before you launch, you should be aware that there is considerable debris field between our ships."

"Spock, not now," Kirk huffed.

"Scotty, find it yet?" Victoria asked, her gaze trained on the Vengeance, ticking off the seconds and minutes they likely had till the crew worked out how to reverse what Scotty had done. She was probably way off in her estimate, but it was helping her keep a reminder of the severity of the situation to know their time truly was limited.

"It's not easy," Scotty half-snapped, "Just…give me two seconds alright, you mad bastards."

"Vick," Bones called quietly as he came to crouch beside the Captain's chair, Victoria dimming the comms. for a moment, "Tell me this going to work."

"I hope it does," she murmured.

"I have neither the information or confidence to make such a remark," Spock just HAD to add.

"Shut up Spock," Victoria muttered at the same time Bones grumbled, "Boy, you're a real comfort."

"Ok Captain," Scotty got back to them, "Standby. Come on, come on, come on, yes! Ok, ok I'm set to open the door."

And a moment later Kirk was giving the command, "Spock, pull the trigger."

"Yes, captain," Spock headed over to his station, putting in the commands, "Launching activation sequence on 3...2...1..."

The viewscreen shifted as the two were launched (more like sucked) out into space from the vacuum of it all, two small dots representing them on the large monitor, small blips of debris appearing in their way as they flew off…Victoria holding her breath through it all, her eyes locked on Kirk's dot.

"Kirk is heading for a collision at 0.432!" Sulu called.

Victoria was silent, feeling her heart pounding away in her ears, making her nearly deaf to the shouts and reports going back and forth from Sulu to Spock to Kirk and back to them. She felt like she couldn't breathe as she watched the dots intently…knowing that at any moment one wrong move could send them both to their death. She felt terrible because she should have been focused on helping them, on calling out commands and offering ways to avoid the debris but she just…couldn't. She hated being captain, she really wasn't qualified for it and, despite Kirk's claims that if she just let it happen she'd be a natural, she didn't want to be. She didn't see herself as a captain and she was ashamed to say she was proving it right at that moment, letting Spock call out corrections, letting Uhura try to contact Scotty when the man failed to respond.

And then her heart stopped when she heard Kirk curse and report that his helmet had been hit, his display and map going out moments later. That was not good, that was not good at all, and Spock just had to make it worse by giving the probability of Kirk being able to navigate without his helmet working, especially with Khan having apparently crashed into some sort of debris and gone off line moments ago…

She closed her eyes as Sulu voiced the thought in all their minds, "He's not going to make it."

A/N: I'm SO sorry this was late :( The internet stopped working at my house and I'm currently at the McDonald's near it to use their wifi to get it up :( I'll be posting notes on my tumblr if anything like this happens, so if the chapter isn't up at a normal time (6:30-7am EST) there should be something there about why :(

On a similar note, yesterday just wasn't my day lol. I put the poll up (saved it this time ;)) but didn't put it as viewable on my profile -shakes head- I'm so sorry, but the poll is definitely up right now on my profile for anyone who's interested ;) I think I got all the pairing suggestions, if I missed any just let me know and I'll add them right on ;)

As for this chapter though, I was so torn between having Victoria go with Kirk or be assigned to stay on the Enterprise, but I feel like, given how often she and he break the rules, that Spock's not-breaking the rules would hit him more. He'd be just a little less sure that Spock would do what he needed to make sure EVERYONE was safe and break a rule to do so where Victoria would just break them without a thought ;)

Some notes on reviews...

Oh there'll be a few more sweet moments to come yup ;) I wanted Victoria to be there...but I feell like Kirk would want to keep Khan away from her, and...I think it would be interesting to see how she handles being captain in a situation like that ;)

Victoria will definitely NOT be taken in by Khan, but I can't say more about that ;)

I agree, Marcus is just terrible :(


	9. Difficult Decisions

Difficult Decisions

"He will," Victoria murmured, shaking herself out of her fear, "He'll make it."

She knew he would, she knew he'd make it because it was the same reason he'd made her captain in the first place. He knew she'd do anything to see him back alive…if just so she could kill him herself when he got back. The same could be said for his efforts to get to the other ship. He'd go and he'd give it his all, he'd make it because he was just too stubborn to die like that. He'd go down in a blaze of glory in a starship crashing to Earth before he let himself get taken out by a bit of debris.

She looked at Sulu, "Do we know where Khan is? His screen is working right?"

"Affirmative," Khan's voice called over the comms. and Victoria wasn't sure whether to feel relieved the man was back or disappointed he hadn't been taken care of with the debris, "My display is still function, I see you Kirk. You're 200 meters ahead of me, my one o'clock. Cut to your left few degrees and follow me."

She resigned herself to being relieved, but only if he could get Kirk into the other ship safely, which reminded her, "Scotty?" she called out, "Do you have access to the hanger door?" but there was silence, "Scotty!"

"Scotty, we're getting close," Kirk shouted in warning, "We need a warm welcome. Do you copy?" still more silence, "Do you copy, Scotty!"

"Scotty report!" Victoria ordered, but nothing.

"If you can hear us, Mr. Scott, open the door in 10…" Spock made his way to the Captain's chair, standing beside it. He knew that humans seemed to appreciate proximity when they were concerned or worried about something. This though, was a more…triple reason for him to stand so close.

The first was that he'd observed that humans tended to react differently when they knew they were being watched by others. They acted braver, sometimes more calmly, were more aware that they were going to be questioned if they made the wrong choices. He noticed that they tended to become more professional, stiffer, more focused when others were observing them. To be so close, he hoped, would remind Victoria of her duty as captain and help her focus on the fact that she needed to remain calm and rational about this, not let her concern for Kirk get to her.

The second was that, the comfort he had noted before. If his observance of her actions was not enough to calm her and get her to rationalize, then the next course of action would be to try and…be there for the girl as the humans would say. Often the humans were…quite nice in how they didn't often need words to be made aware that others were empathetic to their plight, just sitting beside someone who was upset and being silent could comfort them. He was appreciative of that, especially when Uhura had explained that to him when she had been upset once. Just being there for someone, even if you didn't speak, could mean the world to them. And even though Victoria didn't seem to be aware that he was so close, he liked to think that he might help her cope with the fear of Kirk being in danger of his helmet shattering and dying mid-flight.

The third and final reason was…she was…his friend, he could admit that, she and Kirk had become good friends of his and he…was worried for the man as well. The comfort went both ways, to see her equally as alarmed as he felt (though he didn't show it) comforted him on some level. He knew the crew would be alarmed, their captain was in danger, but…Kirk was more than just a captain to the two of them, he was his friend and Victoria's…something, he honestly wasn't sure what to call the two.

"Scotty!" Kirk cried.

"9, 8…" Spock continued to count, "7…"

"Scotty open the door!" Victoria ordered, standing up, frantic and wishing she was there, somehow, that she'd be able to do something to get the other door opened.

"Mr. Scott where are you?!" Kirk shouted.

"6…"

"1800 meters," one of the crew reported to Victoria, NOT helping her calm down at all, "1600 meters…"

"Scotty, where are you?" Kirk repeated.

"3…"

"Scotty please!"

"2…"

"Scotty get the door open!" Victoria pleaded.

"Open the door!" Kirk yelled.

"Mr. Scott, now!" even Spock had taken to shouting in the emotional onslaught that hit them all, the fear for Kirk, that his plan was going to fail.

Suddenly there was a mechanical noise, like a latch unlocked followed by a suction sound and shouting and screaming and grunting and…

"Welcome aboard," Scotty greeted with a pant.

Victoria let out a breath, falling back onto the Captain's chair, her hand to her racing heart as she tried to breathe again. That was…far too close, far, far too close. She knew that Kirk wasn't ever going to stop jumping into situations like that, but usually SHE was right there, holding his hand as she took the plunge with him. This…she hated moments like this, where he went off on his own and she wasn't there to help him. She knew, in most cases, there was probably not much she could do to help him, but she just liked being there, standing beside him, sharing the experience with him. She especially liked when they both escaped from a deadly situation and she and Kirk would end up on the ground, panting, thrilled to both be alive…before he'd grab her and kiss her in celebration, those were her favorite moments because it reminded her that they were in it together.

"Good to see you, Scotty," Kirk added.

Victoria smiled at that, glad to know they were both alright, the second they'd entered the ship, their scans had cut off and the dot representing Kirk had disappeared, leaving them all frantic till Scotty spoke.

"Who is that?" Scotty asked.

"Khan, Scotty. Scotty, Khan."

"Hello."

"They'll know we're here," Khan got right to the point, "I know the best way to the Bridge."

"Of course he does," Victoria muttered, cutting off the comm.. She didn't want to distract the others with their talk on the Bridge and she knew that there would, hopefully, be a transmission coming in from New Vulcan and she didn't want to risk the transmissions affecting each other. If she saw there, listening to Kirk the entire time, she'd be jumping at every single sound, at every noise of a fight, at every alarm going off and…she had to focus on the crew until Kirk contacted her, "Ny?" she looked over at Uhura, "Anything from New Vulcan?"

She nodded, "The transmission's just come in."

"On the screen, please," Spock called.

"Standby," Uhura reported, getting the projection up, the screen blinking on, replacing the image of the Vengeance with that of an older Vulcan who looked surprisingly like Spock.

"Mr. Spock," Spock Prime greeted, seeing his younger self first.

"Mr. Spock," Spock gave a nod in reply.

Spock Prime's expression softened as he grinned at Victoria, "Mrs. Kirk."

Victoria flushed at that as the others turned to look at her, not sure if the Vulcan who appeared to be a future version of Spock was being serious or not. Having lived through the events of the Narada and now aware that time travel was possible, it wasn't hard for anyone on the Bridge to work out that this wasn't just someone who looked like Spock, but that it WAS Spock, it was the future him that Nero had been so keen to find. And…if HE called her MRS. Pike…well, it left little to the imagination of what Victoria was to the other Kirk, and what she likely meant to the present one.

"Spock," she let out a breath.

Spock Prime's grin widened seeing her reaction. He may not know this particular Victoria as well as he did her other self, but he could still tell when she was agitated, when she was scared or upset and right now…she was all three. He also knew that for her to be properly that way, then it was something very serious, likely something that involved Kirk.

"What is wrong?"

"I don't even know where to begin," she admitted.

"If I may, Captain?" Spock stepped beside her once more.

"By all means," she waved him on , knowing if she had to start from the beginning, where she probably would have, she'd end up crying at the reminder of her father's death. And being captain…she couldn't afford that right now.

"I will be brief," Spock turned to his future self, getting only the most basic points, the only thing they still needed to know, "In your travels, did you ever encounter a man named Khan?"

The way Spock Prime fell silent, the expression on his face, told them all that whatever it was the man was going to say was NOT going to be good, "As you know," he began after a moment, "I have made a vow never to give information that could potentially alter your destiny. No," he looked at Victoria as she opened her mouth to argue, "Speaking of your marriage to the James T. Kirk of my reality in no way influenced your own destiny," he countered lightly, "I believe, as I'm sure even your Dr. McCoy did, that you and Jim would have found your way to each other eventually."

"That or killed each other," Bones remarked, taking the appearance of future-Spock in stride, really, after all he'd seen with Jim as captain this was relatively tame.

"Your path, Mr. Spock," Spock Prime continued, "Is yours to walk. And yours alone. That being said…" he took a breath, "Khan Noonien Singh is the most dangerous adversary the Enterprise ever faced."

He looked at Victoria as the woman frowned, "How so?" she asked, thinking of at least a dozen or so enemies that not just the Enterprise, but the Fleet in general, had faced in the past.

"He is brilliant, ruthless, and he will not hesitate to kill every single one of you."

Victoria was silent for a moment, "He and his crew are truly that dangerous?"

She had no doubts about it, but then again, she could argue that it was her bias against Khan that was making her think that. If Spock-Prime could confirm it, could tell them yes or no just how much of a threat Khan and his crew was to the Fleet, to the Universe…she would have a better grasp on how to handle the man in the future, what decisions had to be made about him and his crew.

"I am afraid so," Spock Prime sighed, "Khan, as hard as it may be to believe, was the kindest of his crew."

"Did you defeat him?" Spock inquired.

"At great cost," the older Vulcan nodded, "Yes."

"How did you do it?" Victoria looked at him, but Spock Prime was quiet, "Spock," she made him look at her, "James is trapped onboard another starship, alone, with Khan," she informed him, not telling him about Scotty, she (as terrible as it was to think) doubted that Scotty would be much help in a situation that Khan could get them into, "So please, tell us how you stopped him."

Spock Prime nodded, "We tricked him into lowering the shields of his ship and fired at him and I led him to believe the Enterprise was crippled so that he would follow us when we fled to the Mutara Nebula. His shields and visuals were distorted and unable to be maintained and we were able to defeat him. He refused to accept his defeat and activated a device meant to take both our ships out, yet we were able to escape."

Victoria frowned as she listened to that, she got the feeling that he wasn't telling them everything about what he'd done, but she could agree, he'd given her enough for the moment.

"Then he is likely to attack only when he thinks us weak," she mused.

"Which, it appears, we may be," Spock agreed, thinking on the state of the ship. One more blast from the Vengeance and they would be destroyed.

"Whatever you do," Spock Prime called, "You must take care and you must think two steps ahead."

Spock nodded, "Thank you," he added as Spock Prime's transmission cut.

Victoria looked down, thinking about this, "What do we do then?"

There were...quite a few options really, there were a number of things she could do, especially as captain, but...she didn't know which path to turn down. Did she follow her father's footsteps and do what he would have? Or perhaps Spock? Kirk? Marcus? She had been around captains her entire life, and they would all react so differently even in keeping in line with the rules and regulations of the Fleet or breaking them entirely. And the hard thing was...she wasn't either of those men, she was just...her. She didn't train to be a captain, she didn't want to be a captain, this was the exact reason she hadn't wanted to. And now...the future of the Enterprise, of Kirk, possibly of Earth might rest with them and she had to make a decision.

What do they do?

"If I might Captain," Spock looked at her, "I believe I may have an idea," she gave him a nod of approval and he turned to Uhura, "Lieutenant, I need you to assemble all senior medical and engineering staff in the weapons-bay."

"Alright…" Uhura began slowly, but looked at Victoria for confirmation.

"Why do you want them there?" she stood and turned to Spock.

"We will need them there, and you Dr. McCoy," Spock gestured the man over, "You inadvertently activated a torpedo, could you replicate the process?"

"Why the hell would I want to do that?" Bones scoffed.

"Can you or can you not?"

"Damn it man, I'm a doctor not a torpedo technician!"

"The fact that you are a doctor is precisely why I need you to listen very carefully," Spock looked at the three of them before offering them his plan, Victoria's frown deepening the more he went on...

~8~

Victoria stood on the Bridge, staring at the viewscreen, watching the Vengeance, when Spock came up beside her, "Are you certain THIS is the course you wish to take?" he had to ask.

Victoria took a breath and nodded, "I am."

No matter if it damned her or not.

She stiffened when they saw the lights starting to come up on the Vengeance again and realized they'd gotten their power back, "Everyone," she turned, heading back to the chair, but not sitting down in it, merely standing before hit, "Maintain positions," she warned, "Sulu," she turned to him, "Can you scan for James?"

"Our sensor array are down," Sulu shook his head, "I can't find him."

They turned to the viewscreen as it crackled to life…Khan appearing with Kirk, looking a little battered, held before him at gunpoint, the man's phaser pressed to the back of Kirk's head, "I'm going to make this very simple for you…" the man began.

"James!" Victoria gasped, the same time Spock called out, "Captain!"

"Your crew for my crew," Khan continued.

"You betrayed us," Spock glared, seeing Victoria's eyes locked on Kirk's, Kirk's on hers as well, Carol was in the background, on the ground, clutching her leg as Scotty was laid out beside her, unconscious given the minute rise of his chest.

"Oh you are smart, Mr. Spock," Khan mocked.

"James…" Victoria breathed.

"Victoria don't…" Kirk tried to speak, but Khan whacked him.

"Little Pike," Khan sneered at her, seeing Spock standing to her side meant that the girl was in charge, well, that would just be perfect, women were by far the weaker race, she would be easy enough to manipulate with a few well aimed threats to Kirk and reminders of what he'd done to her father, "Give me my crew."

"Like hell we will," she ground out, her hands clenching into fists beside her as she glared at him, "Like hell will I let you have your army."

"Ooh," he tsked, "An army? We are not soldiers."

"No, you're _murderers_," she spat, "I give you your men and you'll slaughter half the Universe. You'll kill everyone, just like you did my dad."

"Shall I destroy yet another Pike then?" he remarked, seeming far too pleased with her reaction to him and the predicament Kirk was in, "Or perhaps a Kirk?" he smirked, seeing her flinch, "Will you give me what I want?"

"We have no transporter capabilities," Spock cut in, stopping Victoria from giving whatever sort of comeback she'd likely had on the tip of her tongue.

He could see it in her, the fear for Kirk, the concern, and he couldn't stop himself from feeling the need to help her. Over the last year he had come to know Kirk and Victoria quite well, they were...a source of both amusement and exasperation to him, yet...they had endeared themselves to him. He...cared for them both and had sworn to himself to protect them, to keep them safe, and to help them to the best of his ability. He was quite...stoic, by human standards, typical (to an extent) in Vulcan terms, he often came across as a silent protector, a watchdog of sorts, whereas Bones, who seemed to have the same sort of relationship with the duo, was more vocal and vicious, a guard dog. But both of them were exponentially loyal to Kirk and Victoria and would give their lives to see them safe and happy, to try their best to do whatever they could to help them in many things they attempted to do.

"Fortunately, mine are perfectly functional. Drop your shields."

"Tor…" Kirk tried again, but Khan backhanded him before pressing his phaser closer to Kirk's head.

"Stop!" Victoria cried, seeing him hurt.

"Release my crew to me," he ordered.

"No," she shook her head, trying stand strong.

"We have no guarantee that you will not destroy the Enterprise," Spock added, hoping there might be some way to try and negotiate still. He had begun with a plan he thought would work best for both sides…but Victoria had disagreed and the new plan…he honestly wasn't sure what would come of it.

"Let's play this out logically then, Mr. Spock," Khan glared, "Firstly, I will kill your Captain to demonstrate my resolve, then if yours holds, which I doubt it shall, I will have no choice but to kill you and your entire crew."

"YOUR crew is onboard this ship," Victoria reminded him, "Blow us up, and you blow them up."

"Your crew requires oxygen to survive. Mine does not. I will target your life support systems located behind the nacelle. And, after every single person onboard your ship suffocates, I will walk over your cold corpses to recover my people. Now..." he smirked, "Shall we begin?" but they were silent, "Or would you prefer to see the methods of persuasion I have been taught?" he lifted the phaser even to Kirk's temple.

"Drop the shields," Victoria ordered.

"Victoria!" Kirk gaped, but Khan bashed the butt of his phaser into his neck, sending Kirk falling to the ground.

"A wise choice, Pike," he turned and kicked Kirk once more for good measure, before he headed to the controls, commanding the transports to bring the 72 missiles back to the ship, "I see all the 72 torpedoes are still in their tubes. If they are not mine," he looked up at the viewscreen, "I will know it."

"Vulcan's do not lie," Spock stated, knowing he was the only one Khan would likely believe, "The torpedoes are yours."

"Now give us OUR crew back," Victoria demanded.

Khan let out a small chuckle, "As you wish," and they watched as Kirk, Carol, and Scotty, who had just started to wake, disappeared.

"Sulu?" she turned to the man.

"They're onboard," Sulu confirmed.

"Of course they are," Khan smirked, "After all, no ship should go down without her captain."

"He's locking phasers on us!" Sulu shouted as the alarms began to go off, Khan ending the transmission with a dark chuckle.

"Where did he transport the others?" Victoria called above the noise.

"Khan's holding cell!"

"Right," she nodded, turning to Spock, "Spock, I'm appointing you captain," she told him, knowing that, now that Kirk was safe onboard and the torpedoes were with Khan, there was no need for her to be in charge any longer. Kirk was safe, any rules that had needed to be broken were, Spock was safe to be his cold, calculating, commanding, logical self, "I need to get to Engineering," they would need the ship to be able to fly to escape the upcoming blasts and that wouldn't happen without a proper engineer there. She knew Scotty would make his way there, but she had to get there soon, she needed to do something to help.

Spock had barely gotten a nod together before Victoria was running out of the Bridge, hearing Sulu calling behind her, "Shields at 6%!" just as the ship jolted, sending her flying into the wall as Khan fired at them.

"15 seconds," she glanced at a watch on her arm, before pushing off the wall, knowing they just had to hold on for seconds more to be safe…

"Crew of the Enterprise," she heard Spock over the comms., "Prepare for immediate proximity detonation."

~8~

"What's he talking about?" Scotty looked up at the announcement, "What detonation?"

"The torpedoes," Kirk realized, "They armed the damn torpedoes…" he'd barely finished saying that when the ship rocked again, an explosion visible through the windows of the Vengeance being engulfed in flames, "Come on," he struggled on, him and Scotty trying to keep Carol upright between them and get her to medbay for examination…he needed to get her there so he could get him and Scotty to meet Victoria in engineering.

Oh he knew where the girl was when she hadn't immediately appeared after they'd escaped Khan's cell (more like been let out by one of the guards). She had to have seen that Carol was injured, she knew that his priority would be to get his injured crew back to the medbay first and, despite Carol being one of her closest friends, she wouldn't go into the medbay if HE was lying in there sick and dying, there was no chance she'd go there for Carol either. So he had to get her there so they could get to Victoria and help her. He knew it was risky, to make her captain when her skills would have been better used in engineering, helping Chekov get everything repaired, but he really had needed someone to break the rules, and that was Victoria in a nutshell.

"Bones!" Kirk shouted as they rushed into the medbay, seeing it going insane and crowding with other injured crew, "Bones!"

"Nurse!" Bones spotted them and rushed over, instructing a nurse (with the help of Uhura) to take Carol away, leaving him to quickly examine Kirk and Scotty, "Good to see you, Jim."

"You helped Spock detonate those torpedoes?"

Bones was silent a moment, "I helped Vicky detonate them on Spock's idea."

Kirk frowned at that, something about Bones mentioning Victoria striking him, "They killed Khan's crew."

Bones fell quiet once more.

"Bones."

He let out a long breath, "Vick was the one to order them to remain in their cryo-tubes," he told Kirk solemnly, "Spock wanted them removed, extracted to the medbay…Vick refused."

"She…left them in there?" Kirk frowned at that, realizing that, in doing what she had, in leaving the 72 members of Khan's crew in the torpedoes…she had followed through with what Marcus had originally wanted.

"She said they were too dangerous," Bones explained, "And she was right Jim, we talked to Spock, an…older Spock, a future Spock," he gave the man a meaningful look, "Khan would kill us all, he nearly did, and he was apparently the NICEST of his crew."

Kirk blinked at that, NOT liking the sound of it at all. If Khan was the kindest…he could only imagine what the cruelest member was like.

"Vick couldn't risk letting them wake up and be released. I can't say I agree with it, I think it was cold, colder than sucking on an ice cube in the middle of a blizzard. But…Jim, even I have to agree that she probably saved the Universe doing that."

Kirk let out a breath at that, thinking about what had to be going through Victoria's head to give that order, to decide to leave the 72 others in the weapons knowing they'd go off and destroy them all. It was as logical a move as Spock would extol, it was preventative like Pike would have wanted in protecting others, it was as cold and calculating as Marcus, and…to send them there already detonated, was just like what he might have done, let the other side think they won and pull the rug out from under them. But most of all…he could say that it was something he knew, deep down, that Victoria would have done. He knew to most it would appear that the man had murdered her family and she was simply returning the favor, but he knew better. He knew she was doing what she always did when she found herself thrust into a situation she wasn't prepared for. She thought it out as far as she could. If Khan survived, if he got a hold of his crew, hell if they were even freed in the future, it would be the end. Khan would not rest till he and his people took over the Universe and if they were found in the future, all of this would just happen again.

This was a last resort, and sadly it had come to it.

"I need to go," Kirk turned, "Scotty with me!"

"Aye Captain," Scotty rushed after him, heading after the man, knowing they were going to engineering and, for the first time, felt thankful he'd quit and didn't know what was in the torpedoes, if he'd known it was people…he didn't know what he'd have done.

Though he did know one thing, when this was over, he was going to give Victoria an enormous hug, because he knew it couldn't have been easy to look past the fact that Khan had killed her father and not use this as a moment to exact revenge by killing his family in return. Of all the excuses Bones had given, not one of them held revenge and he knew…it probably hadn't even crossed her mind in making such a decision. And for that…the girl deserved a hug, to decide this course of action couldn't have been easy.

~8~

Victoria winced as she crashed into a wall when the ship not only jolted, but leaned, actually leaned, the gravity cutting off as the power grid failed. She cast a quick glance out a nearby window to see Earth…getting closer and closer and realized…they were caught in its gravity. This was not good, at all, SO not good, because she also knew that, for a starship to get caught like that, it meant that the Warp Core was offline.

She looked up as alarms began to go off, sounding the evacuation of the ship, but pushed herself up, running as best she could down the halls even as they turned, jumping over the corners and trying to get to engineering quickly, she needed to help stop this or at least stabilize the ship. With the power failing the way it was, none of the crew would have time to reach the escape pods let alone launch them.

She bolted into engineering just in time to see Chekov frantically trying to get some sort of program into the controls, trying to check and see what was wrong see what to do and instantly felt so guilty for leaving all this to the boy when she was more qualified to handle it all. She ran over to him, "Chekov!" she called, pulling him away from the controls and turning him to face her, "Leave this to me. You get off the ship, now!"

"But…" he began.

"Now!" she shoved him away, turning back to the controls as the boy took off, frantically putting in a program, needing to find the exact part of the ship that was wrong with the core or they'd spend too long trying to fix the wrong thing.

She froze moments later when the report came up…the core was misaligned.

"No…" she breathed, staring at it in horror.

"Tory!" she heard someone shout, looking back to see Kirk and Scotty running over to her, Kirk pulling her right into a tight hug.

"Oh nice," Scotty rolled his eyes, seeing her hug Kirk back, "Blue eyes gets a hug but not me, the dashing suave Scotsman?"

Victoria pulled away quickly, "We don't have time," she told them both, "Scotty, the core's misaligned."

Scotty's mouth fell open for a moment, before he pushed past her to see the scan, double checking her work, and stared in shock, "Oh no, no, no, no, no!"

"What?" Kirk shook his head, not sure what it all meant, he could guess, but…it sounded more serious from them than it did in his head.

"The housings are misaligned," Scotty said quickly.

Kirk blinked, "I got that, but what's it _mean_?"

"We can't redirect power," Victoria explained, rubbing her head.

"The ship's dead, sir," Scotty looked at him, solemn, "She's gone."

Kirk's jaw tensed as he turned, "No she's not," and ran off, the two engineers after him.

"Wait, Jim!" Scotty called, both he and Victoria working out what Kirk was planning to do. To Kirk, it had to be simple, if something was misaligned, they just had to knock it back into place, to THEM though, they knew it meant radiation poisoning, climbing, brute force, among other things that made it near impossible to do, "If we go in there, we'll _die_. Do you hear me? The radiation will _kill_ us!" he reached out and grabbed Kirk's arm, spinning him to face them, "Will you _listen_ to me? I'll die. YOU'll die. _Victoria_ will DIE!" but Kirk pulled his arm out of his hold and turned back to the side controls, "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm opening the door," Kirk told them, a grim determination in his voice as Victoria closed her eyes and let out a breath, "I'm going in."

"That door is to stop us getting irradiated," Scotty reminded him, "We would be dead before we made the climb!"

Kirk was silent a moment.

"_You're_ not making the climb," he said, turning quickly and slamming his fist across Scotty's face, knocking the man out and back into a chair. He let out a breath and quickly moved to strap the engineer into his seat, not wanting him to get hurt while unconscious. He took a single moment to look down at Scotty, silently apologizing for what he'd done and turned to try and stop Victoria…

Only to run right into a fist meant for him as well.

Victoria didn't even cry out as she was entirely sure she'd broken something in her knuckles this time, as she watched Kirk fall to the ground. She'd never…done that to him before, knocked HIM out with a punch, she'd never thought she ever would…but there she was just…looking down at his prone, unconscious form with a solemn, grim expression on her face before she whispered...

"Neither are you."

A/N: Oh...dear...god... O.O and only one more chapter left! }:)

On a slightly lighter note, last day to vote on the poll for pairing names ;) It's up on my profile ;)

And just to explain the lateness of this chapter...apparently my mother thinks that staying up till 2am and waking up at 6am every day for the last week is unhealthy. She shut my alarms off after I went to sleep and I literally just woke up 2 minutes ago, realized what time it was, yelled, and ran to my computer to get this up as my mother came to see why I was shouting and told me what she did :( I'm SO sorry it's late :(

Some notes on reviews...

I was debating giving Victoria an action moment in this story, beyond her punching people out thing, but there's a moment I have in mind for a scene involving her kicking but that I think would be best with the subplot for the next story ;) So we'll definitely see it :)

Oh I don't think I could be a starship captain either, I'd panic and crumble under the pressure and responsibilities :)

I think Victoria just has an irrational fear of doctors and medical lol :) She can't really explain why, she hasn't had bad experiences with it, it's like her fear of fire, she's just afraid of it :)


	10. Love Conquers All

Love Conquers All

Victoria winced as she crawled through the small tunnel that led to the Warp Core, panting as she tried to breathe through what felt like a pressure on her chest making it difficult. It was the radiation, she knew, the entire room was steeped in it. She closed her eyes for only a moment, steeling herself, before she pushed herself on, climbing through the room and staring up at the housings for the core. It was even more damaged than she thought it was and that worried her. She looked down at her hand, knowing it would be next to useless, she could barely open her fingers without a shooting pain racing up her arm. She needed to stop doing that, punching people like that…or she needed to see about getting some sort of metal gauntlet to help her.

She shook her head and started to climb up to the device, not having time to think about that or even joke about it. She swallowed hard, realizing she was likely not going to have time to joke about anything again after this. It would be a miracle if she could drag herself back to the door she'd climbed through, sealing the Core behind her so that they could at least reclaim her body.

That was…an odd thought, to consider her body after she inevitably died of radiation poisoning. And she wasn't sure what that said about her entire mental state that she wasn't more alarmed or freaking about how the thought she was truly about to die. This wasn't one of those situations where she could hope Kirk or Spock or Bones would swoop in and help her, each of them had done just that in the past at one point or another, no…this was…different. This was finite. Just entering the room had poisoned her system, damaged her cells, it had begun a process that WAS going to kill her, she knew it, she'd studied Warp Cores extensively in the engineering program, she knew exactly what she was walking into when she'd knocked out Kirk to go in instead.

It SHOULD be her, she couldn't help but think, it should be her and not just because she was in engineering and she knew what to do to get the core back aligned. It was because this was her fault. All of it.

It was her fault.

If she'd just…if SHE had gone with Sulu instead of Uhura or Spock she could have made sure that the shuttle didn't hover over the volcano like it had. She had been the one who had offered to go into the volcano, since she (and Scotty) had built the cold fusion device in the first place. It had all been set for her to be on the shuttle…till Kirk found out about it and decided Spock, who was supposed to remain on the ship as Captain, should go instead, since he was Vulcan and better able to handle the heat. If she'd been there, the shuttle wouldn't have hovered, it would have lasted long enough to get in and out of the volcano, and none of the inhabitants of Nibiru would have seen them, Spock wouldn't have filed a report, and they wouldn't have all been shifted around, her father wouldn't have been called to Daystrom.

If her father hadn't been in Daystrom, he wouldn't have died, she wouldn't have felt such overwhelming, blinding anger. She wouldn't have been so hurt, she wouldn't have _wanted_ to hunt down Khan the way she had, she would have stopped Kirk from doing the same. She would have been more rational, less murderous, she would have had a clearer head and…she would have fought back against Kirk in a few of his decisions. She wouldn't have let the torpedoes onto the Enterprise, she'd have agreed with Scotty, they'd have cracked one open first before they even left the system…

So much could have been avoided if she'd just…thought things through. She would have given the warp drive and the engines a proper look through before they even took off! It was the Liaison's duty to inspect the engines and engineering before they went on missions like this, but she hadn't, and Kirk had allowed it, and without Scotty there to remind anyone no one had thought to make her. She would have found the leak in her scans of the ship. They could have fixed it, gotten Khan, and gotten him back to Earth without issue…they would never have gotten caught by the Vengeance until it was too late for Marcus to do anything.

This really was…her entire fault.

If Kirk and her hadn't been in the relationship they were, he wouldn't have felt twice the amount of drive to get Khan. He wanted to avenge his captain, but equally he wanted to avenge her and her father. And she'd fueled it, it had taken SPOCK of all people to get through to him, to get one of them clearheaded. And she was ashamed to say that she had let her anger and hatred get too firm a grip on her and it had taken Kirk more effort than it should have to get through to her as well. She had been willing to do dark deeds and sink to Khan's level to get back at the man and that was not something her father would be proud of. He would have been proud of her for making the difficult choice to protect the Universe from the rest of Khan's crew, to do so with only concern for the Fleet and the peoples of the universe in her heart and not for revenge.

And he would be proud of her for this, for keeping the captain safe, for saving the ship and her crew. He'd be proud and that thought alone, well…that and the knowledge that in her being there Kirk would be safe…kept her going, kept her climbing.

If she could do this, if she could save the crew...maybe she would have made up for putting them in such danger in the first place.

She stumbled, tripping forward and crying out as she landed on her bad hand, before taking a shaky breath and pushing herself on, nearly jumping up the last few steps to reach the housings, falling to her knees before it. She looked around at it frantically, before reaching out, ignoring the pain in her hand as she tried to pull the housings back into alignment…but they were stuck, the damage around the room having locked them in place.

She let out a frustrated cry and looked around, knowing she didn't have time to get any sort of tool to help her, not that she'd even make it. Right now she could already feel the cold seeping into her, the tingling in her body from the radiation and she knew, she probably wouldn't even make it down to the ground again. She looked up, praying for some sort of miracle…when she spotted the top of the housings. It was partially broken off on the top, but it was enough of a jutting piece sticking out that she could hold onto it. She groaned and struggle to her feet, reaching up and grabbing the metal, closing her eyes in pain as she forced her other hand to clamp around the beam.

She panted, before kicking off the housing, holding tight to the beam, and using that as leverage and momentum to kick at the housings. She kicked and kicked and kicked, slamming her feet into the side of the housing, little by little moving them back. She just needed one more kick, just one more…she told herself the last three kicks. But she kept going, there was far too much at stake for her to give up now, she was NOT going to stop till she breathed her last. Not when everyone was depending on her.

She let out a strangled scream, rearing back, and slamming her feet into the alignment one more time, knowing she'd only manage this last go…

And they fell into place, a blast of energy flying out from it just as she lost her grip on the upper beam.

Victoria fell back from the alignment, tumbling down the debris and what was left of the housing device, rolling down it, groaning and grunting with each piece of metal she hit on the way, rolling as she got to the bottom, falling onto her back with a cry of pain. She gasped in, staring at the ceiling with tears in her eyes, but she could _feel_ it…the rumbling of the engines picking up once more and she could hear it, the roar of the Enterprise as it stabilized in its fall.

She let out a breath, closing her eyes a moment as a tear leaked out the side of them, everyone was safe again…

She snapped her eyes open and looked to the side, more like was unable to stop her head rolling to the side, to see the entrance to the small tunnel she'd crawled through. She had to go, now, she knew. Kirk had a remarkably thick head, he'd wake up soon and she had to make sure she was somewhere that they'd safely be able to get to her instead of risking letting him come in there after her.

With enormous effort, she rolled onto her side, onto her stomach, and forced herself to crawl to the tunnel, into it and towards the glass door she could see Engineering through…

She was sure she might have blacked out for a second because she heard someone with a Scottish accent shouting, "Lassie no!" before her world went black as she slumped just before the glass door…

~8~

Scotty stared in horror at the prone form of Victoria, having fallen just inches away from the door, the entrance to the Warp Core open behind her. He ran to the controls and closed them, knowing the radiation was leaking through the entrance even now and, given her state…she wouldn't survive more of the dangerous and lethal poison.

"Victoria!" he crouched before the door, tapping on it, but she didn't move and he knew he couldn't open the door just yet, they had to wait for the decontamination process to start, to kill the excess radiation in the room. He shook his head and spun around, rushing to the comms.. He'd been about to try and get Kirk awake, having woken to see the man collapsed on the ground beside a chair he was strapped into. He'd struggled a moment before rolling his eyes and unstrapping himself to go check on the captain…when another flash of blonde hair caught his gaze and he'd spotted her crawling out of the Warp Core, the horrible realization of what she'd done dawning on him.

"Engineering to Bridge!" he cried frantically into the comms., "Mr. Spock!" he needed to get the Vulcan down there, because Kirk was stirring, and if the man saw the state Victoria was in…there would be hell to pay and he would need the brute strength he didn't possess to hold the man back.

"Mr. Scott," Spock replied.

"Sir, you'd better get down here," he looked over at Kirk.

"Tory?" the man was mumbling as he roused, looking around for the girl though seeming quite disoriented from the punch to the face he'd been dealt.

"You better hurry," he added, urgent, seeing Kirk starting to turn onto his stomach, pushing himself onto his knees.

"Scotty?" Kirk slurred, blinking before he looked up at the man, "What…" he squinted at him, still not quite awake, "Why am I…" and then he saw it, he saw Kirk freeze as it hit him, "Where is she!?"

Scotty opened his mouth to answer but just…couldn't find words, so he just looked to the side where Victoria was.

Kirk turned in a sharp motion, his eyes widening in horror when he spotted her, "Tory!" he cried, scrambling over to her, not even managing to make it to his feet as he slid on his hands and knees to the door, banging on it, "Tory! Victoria!" he slammed his hands on the door, pounding on it, not sure if he was trying to break through the glass or wake her up, but when he saw her stirring his mind went right to that, "Victoria, wake up!"

Victoria winced as she slowly came around, she could feel herself shaking, her chest aching painfully with each breath she took. She curled her hands into fists, she couldn't even feel her one hand anymore, which might be a blessing. She blinked blearily, wincing and closing her eyes as she caught the light inside engineering, before she forced them open again, knowing she should probably be worried about the black spots in her vision and how hazy everything appeared…but she saw it.

Kirk.

His blue eyes staring at her in shock and horror and fear and concern.

She kept her eyes locked on his, pulling strength from that, as she bit her lip and pulled herself up, struggling to drag herself to the doors, collapsing against it, her head resting on the cold glass. She felt both warm and cold, warm in that the cold glass felt good to her, but she felt cold inside, she was shaking but she knew there was sweat coating her face. She panted, curling her legs beside her as she looked at Kirk…

"Hey," she breathed.

Kirk just shook his head at her, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"S'not polite," she murmured, her words slurring as she tried to focus on him, she could vaguely see Spock run into the room behind them, staring at her in equal horror.

"Open it!" Spock shouted, staring at them, at Kirk crouched before the door, his hands pressed to it, her hunched over and using the glass as support.

"Can't…" she breathed, her eyes closing a moment, her face scrunching in pain.

"Tory open your eyes," Kirk nearly begged, "Come on…keep those gorgeous eyes open," and so she did.

"Why not?" Spock frowned, looking at Scotty.

"The decontamination process is not complete," Scotty told them solemnly, "You'll flood the whole compartment. The door is locked, sir."

Victoria blinked at Kirk, "Did I do it?"

"Do what?" Kirk stared at her.

"You're…not dead too…are you?" she squinted at him, as though she'd be able to tell, her head was starting to hurt, she...she couldn't remember, had she done it? Did it work? Were the housings aligned again?

"No," he swallowed hard to hear her talking like this, "Whatever you did, it worked," he whispered, "You saved the ship."

She nodded a little feeling her eyes fluttering before she forced them open, "Good…"

"You probably saved everyone from Khan and his crew," he added.

"Had to," she murmured, "Had to do that," she swallowed hard, "Had to do this…"

He shook his head, "This is by far the stupidest thing you've ever done."

"I doubt that," she tried to joke, "Plenty of…other things…come to mind."

He looked at her a long while, seeing her panting, seeing her struggling and growing weaker every second, "Why?" he shook his head, feeling tears gathering in his eyes, "Why would you do something so stupid?!"

She let out a strained breath, "You really don't know?" she tried to smile at him, "Should have known…genius level intellect…boy-brain," she tapped her temple weakly.

He would have laughed if the situation were not so serious, it felt like ages since she'd said he had a boy-brain, but she was sitting in front of him, far too pale, shaking, with her eyes full of tears and filled with such pain he just...it killed him just looking at her, "Tory…" he shook his head, it was not a time for jokes.

"Jim," she looked at him again, rolling her head to stare up at him, "I already lost…one man that I love," she swallowed hard, tears gathering in her eyes as well, "I couldn't…lose another."

Kirk let out a breath at that, feeling his chest constrict painfully, "A man you love."

She weakly nodded, unable to muster the strength to do much else but lift her hand and place it against the door. There was no point in not saying or admitting to it now, she just…wanted him to know before she went. She wanted him to know that, no matter what, she loved him, so much.

Kirk immediately placed his own to hers on the other side of the glass, "I love you too Tor."

"Good," she breathed, trying her best to keep her eyes open, but it was SO hard, she just...felt so tired, so so tired, "Would…haunt your…ass if…you didn't…" she breathed, feeling her strength leaving her, feeling it getting far too close to the end, "I'm sorry…love you Jimmy," she breathed one last time.

Kirk stared at her, watching as her eyes fell closed, "Tory?" he knocked on the glass, but she didn't budge, "Victoria?" and once more, but her head just lulled to the side, "Victoria!" he shouted, feeling his heart starting to race as her hair fell to the side, covering her face, the girl still slumped against the wall, her hand weakly resting on the glass still.

He stayed crouched there, his eyes glued to Victoria, to the rise and fall of her chest, to her hand STILL on the glass as sign she was alive, "Spock…" he called, the Vulcan turning his head as he heard a crack in the man's voice, "I'm _scared_," he admitted, feeling himself trembling, feeling his heart breaking, his mind going frantic with worry for her, he'd just told her he loved her, he did, he finally had, and now he was losing her, "Help me, please," he nearly begged, "How do you choose not to feel it?"

If he felt it now…he knew he'd feel ten times what he had when Pike died all because of Khan, he'd feel a rage he'd never felt before, he'd feel a desperation to rival Marcus's, and he knew he'd feel a pain that he wouldn't be able to stand. And he knew, to lose her…he would become something FAR worse than Khan or all his crew could ever hope to be if it meant avenging the fallen woman.

"I do not know," Spock swallowed hard, watching them, seeing such raw emotion pass between the two…it tore at his heart and he could actually feel a tear escape his eye, "Right now I am failing."

And he was, because she was his friend, much like Kirk was. He was all too aware, given the year with the crew, that a relationship like that meant that the person in question would do anything for another person, come hell or high water, they'd be there for each other. It was why Kirk and Victoria hadn't wanted to let him die in the volcano, your crew was your family…and right now one of his family were dying before him.

And after what happened to Vulcan, he cherished his new family more than anything.

Kirk didn't look away, just kept his gaze focused on Victoria, "Tory?" he whispered once more, lightly tapping the glass with a finger where her hand was, "Victoria please…" he murmured, resting his forehead to the glass, not feeling able to speak louder, talking like this…it was almost like she was just sleeping and he was trying to wake her up without getting punched or something, he knew Scotty and Spock could probably hear him, but he didn't care…he just…he wanted her to look at him again, to live, "Please open your eyes," he begged, closing his eyes, praying, "Please don't go…don't…don't leave me," he opened his eyes, wet with the tears he refused to let fall, "Please…stay. _Please_. I love and you can't…" his voice broke, "You can't…"

Victoria's hand slid down the glass as he stared in horror at her chest ceasing to rise.

No.

No, this…this couldn't be happening. It couldn't. Not Victoria, not her. They were…they were supposed to be together! They were supposed to both go out in a blaze of glory in their prime or peacefully in their sleep as a little old couple, not like this. She wasn't supposed to ever die like this. He was supposed to protect her, he'd sworn to Pike he'd protect her, he'd sworn to himself he'd keep her safe! His heart gave a painful thump with each beat, not that he was all too aware of how many beats it gave as he stared at her, the world falling away. There was a ringing in his ears, deafening him to Spock's questions of concern and Scotty's bitter sobs. He couldn't hear anything over the blood flowing in his ears, he couldn't pull his hand away from the glass he felt frozen, shaking. His eyes were clued to Victoria's face, his stomach churning to see that she didn't even appear to have gone peacefully, she didn't look like she was sleeping but more having a nightmare, her face scrunched in pain.

And that's what it was, a nightmare.

Kirk let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding in, and his hand curled into a fist, white-hot rage filling him the longer her stared at her. This was all Khan's fault, all of it. Khan was responsible for the death of two Pikes, for the death of the one he loved like a father and another he loved with all his heart, more than he'd ever loved anyone in his life.

And now she was gone.

And Khan was responsible.

Without saying a single word, Kirk stood, looking down at Victoria one more time, before he turned on his heel and strode out of the room, Scotty and Spock all too aware of what the man was going to do given his fierce expression, his hands in fists, his shoulders squared, his entire demeanor and focus was on one thing.

He was going to kill Khan.

~8~

Kirk stormed onto the Bridge so fast that no one had a chance to call out his return, "Scan the Vengeance for Khan!" he snapped, startling them all with the bite in his words, the anger.

"Sir," Sulu began cautiously, all of them glancing at each other as they eyed their Captain warily. They had managed to get the thrusters on in time to not crash into Earth, but the Vengeance hadn't been so lucky, or at least what was left of it. The ship had narrowly missed them as it fell to Earth and crashed into the water before sliding onto the land near Starfleet Headquarters, "There's no way anyone survived…"

"Khan could," Kirk sent him a glare, "Now run the damn scan!"

Sulu nearly flinched at that, none of them had ever heard Kirk bark an order like that before and they could all feel a tension rising in the room and in themselves, because…for Kirk to act like that…something had to be wrong. They could all feel a pit settle in their stomachs because…he had been something like this when Pike had died and this…was far, FAR worse than what happened with Pike.

None of them wanted to entertain a thought as to what it could mean, because they all knew the only one who would be able to get this tremendous of a reaction out of Kirk…was Victoria.

"Yes, sir," Sulu swallowed, and turned to run the scan, the sensors locking onto something alarming. An image came up on the viewscreen of the ship on Earth…of Khan jumping out of the debris and down to the ground, "Whoa, he just jumped 30 meters!"

Kirk, however, was unimpressed, "Beam him up!"

"There's too much damage, sir," Chekov, who had returned to the Bridge now that Scotty was back, reported, "I have no incoming sig…nal…" he trailed off, seeing Kirk turn his glare on him and, being only 18 years old, he felt quite like his father was not only disappointed but incredibly angry with him, "But…" he tried to think of something to appease the man, "It may be possible to beam you _down_, sir."

"Inform transport!" Kirk nearly ran out of the room, all of them seeing him grab a phaser on the way out.

~8~

Kirk ran into the transport room, not even bothering with the rather startled transport controller, "Standby for coordinates," was all he offered the man as he leapt onto the transport pad.

"Yes sir," the controller frowned, seeing Kirk panting and tense, a murderous glint in his eyes.

"Enter 3517*2518," Chekov called over the comms..

"Coordinates confirmed," the controller nodded, not even waiting for an order from Kirk before he beamed the man down onto the planet.

~8~

Kirk didn't even hesitate in looking around, nor did he even notice he'd appeared in the middle of a crowd, not when he caught sight of Khan running in the distance and bolted after the man himself with a furious and frightening cry of, "KHAN!"

~8~

Bones stood before a rolling slab, set up in the hallway just outside medical, unable to bring himself to move the body inside. He felt himself momentarily gag at the thought of it, body. It wasn't alive, it was just…a corpse. He closed his eyes a moment, steeling himself, before he pulled the sheet covering it down and looked down at Victoria's body, her head lulled to the side, looking like hell.

"Damn it Vick," he murmured, no bite at all in his words. He shook his head and turned away, he just…he needed a minute, he just needed a moment to gather himself to do this. He refused to let any of the other doctors do this, Victoria would have railed and ranted against it, against any other doctor helping her. Hell, she hated when HE helped her half the time and he was her friend, according to her, the only doctor she liked.

A lot of good that had done though. It was his job to help the crew, to make them better, to save them when Kirk got them into the stupidest of situations…and he'd failed. Victoria was dead and now…HE had to attend to the body.

He took a single step into the medbay, taking a deep breath to gather himself…and spotted the Tribble on the back table…_alive_. He could see it breathing, faintly hear it purring, and the monitor he'd set up beside it was reading faint life signs…and suddenly…

He felt like a doctor again.

"Get her into medbay now!" he shouted to the nurses and staff around him, startling them with the sudden call, "Now! Get her in the freezer!"

They stared at him for a short moment, if she was dead…what was the point in putting her in the freezer first? They still had to do an examination of her, even though they knew she'd died of radiation poisoning. Victoria Pike was listed as an organ donor and they had to see if there were any that they could possibly rescue…

"DO it!" he snapped and the staff scrambled into action.

"Oh my god Vicky!" Carol gasped, seeing her friend being rolled in on a gurney and led towards a small set of what looked like metal cabinets on the side of the room...

~8~

Kirk ran through the crowd, through traffic, through glass doors, not even bothered by how close he'd come to getting hit numerous times , not really noticing as he raced after the murderer before him. He ran faster when he saw Khan leap off a building and onto some sort of moving unit. He didn't even think as he jumped after the man, rolling with a grunt onto the same unit, pushing himself up and attacking Khan with a vengeance, the man proving his prowess as a warrior as he faced the Captain in battle…

~8~

"We need to get her in the freezer," Bones explained quickly as they hefted Victoria off her gurney and onto one of the slabs they'd pulled out of the cabinets. It was a medical freezer, where they usually stored the bodies of dead crew in order to transport them back to their families for their funerals. It would NOT be good for the families to receive a well, rotting corpse, and the freezers were good for quick journeys. They were nowhere near on the level of the cryo-tubes (he was starting to regret letting Victoria make the decision to leave all of them in the torpedoes now), but they would be good for a few hours…and that was all he was hoping they'd need, "It's our only chance to preserve her brain function."

"How much of Khan's blood is left?" Carol struggled over, tears in her eyes as she saw Victoria slide into the freezer, the metal door sealed shut.

"None," Bones told her grimly, before rushing to the comms., "Enterprise to Spock. Spock!"

~8~

Kirk slammed his fist into Khan's face, managing to knock the man off him as he tried to crush his head like he had done to Marcus. Khan rolled to his feet and jumped off, onto another unit, but Kirk was right behind him, leaping right onto Khan's back an instant later, sending him tumbling down and the fight resumed…

~8~

"McCoy to Bridge!" Bones tried again, having been unable to reach Spock's personal comm., not knowing the man had left it in engineering, dropped it when he'd seen Kirk and Victoria, "I can't reach Spock."

"Dr. McCoy," Spock's voice sounded, "I have just arrived on the Bridge, what is the matter?"

"I need Khan alive," he told them, already knowing that Kirk would have gone after Khan, he doubted there was anyone on the ship less likely NOT to go after the man, but he knew Kirk well enough to know he was going with the intent of killing Khan, "You need to stop Jim and get that son of a bitch back onboard, right now! I think he can save Vicky!"

~8~

Spock turned to Sulu and Chekov the minute the transmission ended, "Can we beam them to the ship?"

"They keep moving," Chekov shook his head, watching Kirk and Khan duking it out, "I can't get a lock on either of them."

Spock nodded at that, realizing that if Kirk was there…perhaps there was another option other than getting Khan UP there, "Can you beam someone down?"

~8~

Kirk was on his back, Khan trying to strangle him…when the lights of a transport appeared at the end of the unit, Spock in the middle of the rings, a phaser in hand as he fired immediately at Khan who fell back off the captain though he appeared unaffected by the stun setting.

Kirk reached out and grabbed a piece of debris, a lone piece of metal almost the length of a crowbar and slammed it out across Khan's face. The man fell back into the side of the unit, before lunging at Kirk again, but he ducked under Khan's swing, managing to get his arms around the man from behind, the metal bar pressed against Khan's neck as he pulled back, choking the man with it. He kneed Khan in the back, driving him to his own knees as his face contorted in rage, a vein bulging in his neck as he tried to strangle the life out of the man.

"Captain!" Spock shouted seeing Khan actually starting to struggle, Kirk getting the best of him, "Captain stop! Jim!" but Kirk was deaf to his calls, "Stop!" so Spock resorted to the one name he knew would cause the Captain to pause, "James!" Kirk looked up at that, "He can save Liaison Pike!" he called to the man, but Kirk seemed confused, whether by his words or as though he didn't realize what he was doing, Spock wasn't sure, "Dr. McCoy can save Victoria but only with Khan alive!"

Kirk let out a breath at that, feeling sound return to his world, feeling…color return, and suddenly feeling tired as the adrenaline drained from him. He knew it was a long shot, he knew Victoria was dead and he'd be grasping at straws to do this...but he needed the hope, the chance, that she'd be ok, that he'd have her back. He shoved Khan forward and reeled back, using the last of his strength to whack the bar across the back of Khan's skull…knocking him out before he fell to his knees, panting.

~8~

Victoria's face scrunched in pain and suddenly there was a hand on her own as it lay above a sheet of some sort, "Victoria?" she heard Kirk breath and forced her eyes open…that…shouldn't be there, she shouldn't be able to hear him talking if she was dead and she swore to god if he'd died too she'd _kill_ him. Somehow.

She winced at the bright, whiteness of the room she was in and groaned, "Medical?"

"Yeah," Kirk laughed, beside her bead, looking down at her with the most relieved expression she'd ever seen on his face, "Try and get up and I will sit on top of you till they strap you down," he threatened, though he knew she was FAR too weak to even push herself up let alone fight her way out of medical, and he'd done all he could to make the room seem not like the medbay so that she wouldn't freak out immediately at being there.

"You'd love that," she shot right back.

"I'd prefer to LAY on top of you actually," he gave her a saucy smirk.

She managed a small smile despite the pain in her body that made her feel like she'd been dragged through a grinder, "Buy me a drink first."

"It's a date," he promised.

She looked up at him, lifting an arm to gently touch his cheek with the back of her fingers, "I was dead," she stated, she knew that much.

"Oh don't be so melodramatic," Bones's voice spoke from beside her, coming up to the bed to check the monitor sitting next to it, "You were _barely_ dead."

"Still counts," she grunted, having tried to move and let her hand fall back down to the bed, "Feels like I was…"

"Yeah," Bones's voice grew softer at that, "That transfusion really took its toll."

"You were unconscious for a fortnight," Kirk added.

She blinked and rolled her eyes up at him, "Don't try to sound romantic James, big words don't suit you."

He rolled his eyes in return, "You love it when I'm romantic."

"I love it when you're YOU."

"I AM romantic though," he puffed out his chest, "Very romantic."

"In your dreams."

"I can prove it."

"Right."

"You and me, dinner."

"After I break out of here?"

"No, right here, right now…well, not _now_," he thought about it, "Tonight, just the two of us."

"And that drink you promised me."

"No drinking in the medbay," Bones cut in, "Seriously, you nearly die and you're being all…this," he gestured at them.

They looked at each other, only just realizing that somehow, at some point in their little word match, Kirk had made it to sit beside her on the small bed, his arm winding around her as she managed to sit up and lean on him, resting her head half on his shoulder, half on his chest.

"I think _I_ may need medical attention," Bones continued, "You're making me nauseas."

Victoria gave him a tired smirk, "Carol loves old black and white movies," she offered, "And cuddling," she caught the blush on his cheeks telling her he was WELL aware of that last one, "Welcome to the dark side Bonesy."

Kirk though, looked at Bones, more serious, "The transfusion went ok though? No side effects to watch out for?"

"What transfusion?" Victoria blinked at them.

"Your cells were heavily irradiated," Bones supplied, not really wanting to be the one to tell her that it had been Khan, the man who murdered her father, who had saved her life, even against his will, "We had no choice."

"We um…" Kirk took a breath, "Khan's cells healed the Tribble, we thought…"

"That he would save me too?" Victoria guessed, closing her eyes and rubbing her head weakly, NOT happy about that at all, to know that she'd been transfused with…with…with that bastard's blood or something.

But when Kirk reached out and touched her cheek, stroking it softly as she opened her eyes to look at him, seeing how thankful he was that she was alive, how happy, the…love in his eyes compared to the devastation she'd seen in them in her last memory…she could live with what happened. Or she told herself she could, she just…she'd try to, for Kirk. Because…as much as she hated Khan, she was still alive because of him, she was back with Kirk.

"Once we caught him, I synthesized a serum from his super blood," Bones explained, "Tell me, are you feeling homicidal, power-mad, despotic?"

"It's not that time of the month," she shrugged, smirking a bit at how the men flushed and shifted, "So no, I think we're safe for now," she let out a small laugh at Bones's nod, "Just…" she hesitated, not sure she wanted to know, "I doubt Khan just gave you the blood to heal me…"

"He didn't," Kirk agreed.

"Jim here tracked him down and nearly beat his head in with a crowbar," Bones added.

"Nice," Victoria nodded.

"It wasn't a crowbar!" Kirk huffed, though he flushed thinking about how he acted, he would have LOVED to truly beat Khan to death but only the thought of him saving Victoria kept him alive, "It was just a piece of metal!"

Victoria nudged him a little, "My hero," she whispered, making him look at her and smile, "You saved my life."

"Spock and I had something to do with it too you know," Bones rolled his eyes, nodding to the Vulcan standing in the back of the room.

"Well thank you," she smiled at them.

"You both saved my life," Spock cast off the thanks unlike Bones, who nodded at that, "And the lives of many others," he tilted his head, "You, Victoria, are important to Captain Kirk, I could not let him destroy the chance to save you," he hesitated a moment, "You are…important to me as well," he glanced between them, "Both of you. I…consider you to be among my closest friends."

"Thank you Spock," Kirk smiled at him, squeezing Victoria once more, knowing that without Spock there to stop him…he really would have killed Khan, and Victoria wouldn't be back with them.

"You're welcome, Jim," Spock gave a nod of the head.

"If we're friends…" Victoria began, "Could I ask a favor of you Mr. Spock?" Spock turned to her as though waiting to see what it was before he promised anything, darn Vulcan foresight, "Get me out of the medbay?"

Kirk just laughed, seeing her spirit intact, and reached out to touch her cheek, turning her head to face him as he kissed her, pouring his relief of her being alive into it, not caring that Spock and Bones were still there as he did so.

~8~

Victoria and Kirk walked through the halls of the Enterprise, having just come from a small ceremony that had been put together by the Fleet to honor those that had died in Khan's attack now that the man had been dealt with. Unfortunately, the Fleet had gotten wind of their capture of Khan, of what they'd done to the rest of his crew, and had seized the body from them. They had feared what the Fleet might do with the specimen of Khan, but been reassured (and been there) when Khan was placed back in his cryo-tube and sealed in the lowest, most heavily guarded levels of one of the top bases for the Fleet on Earth. They were given express promises that Khan was NEVER to be awakened again, the man's cell sealed.

They were grateful that the Fleet didn't see him as a tool, like Marcus had, but as the criminal he was, this was his version of a life sentence, forever frozen, forever locked away. As he deserved.

But the Fleet had continued on to give the ceremony as a means of closure to all those who had lost someone to Khan and they'd attended. Victoria couldn't bring herself to speak though, too overwhelmed with the remembrance of her father's last moments, of how close SHE had come to being Khan's victim, and so Kirk had offered to speak on her behalf and given a moving speech about how revenge was never the way, how the Captain's oath meant more than just a pledge but served as a memory of what the Fleet stood for.

Now though, they were heading back to the Enterprise's Bridge, ready to just…get away, get away from Earth and the Ceremony and the memory of Khan. The Fleet had offered them the 5 year mission into deep space and they'd taken it without a moment's hesitation, needing…something new.

And speaking of something new…

"So you love me then, eh?" Victoria smiled, her hand brushing beside Kirk's as they walked.

The man smiled and snatched her hand, holding it in his, not caring who might see their captain walking the halls and holding hands with someone, "Depends…"

"On what?" she gave him a playful look.

"You love me back?"

"I think I loved you first," she countered.

"Oh yeah?" he scoffed, "When?"

"When what?"

"When did you fall in love with me?"

She was actually silent at that, considering his question. She knew when she realized she loved him, when she'd seen him about to be banished from the Enterprise during the Vulcan attack and realized that she just…couldn't leave him alone, that she didn't want to be apart from him and that she wanted to be with him, forever if she could. But when had she actually fallen?

She smiled, realizing when, "When I saw you sitting there with those ridiculous napkins in your nose."

"You're joking," Kirk laughed at that, "THAT was what made you love me? Not my charm or dashing good looks or…"

"Shockingly big ego?" she quipped.

He rolled his eyes, but looked at her, "Really? That was when?"

She shrugged, a pink tint to her cheeks, "You were…_you_ then," she offered, "You weren't the drunk flirt, you weren't the genius delinquent, you weren't the arrogant fighter…you were your most human then," she looked at him, "You were just a boy for that second, and, I don't know, I felt like…like I could see the real you. Hurt, but fighting, knocked down but still sitting strong. And I knew you were something different."

He smiled at that, at that description of himself, if seeing him like that got her that interested in him, maybe he should get his nose broken more often…

"Don't you dare," she pointed at him, seeing his expression and just knowing where his mind had gone. She poked his nose gently with her already extended finger, "I like your face the way it is."

He gave her a cheeky, smug grin at that, reaching up to take her finger, holding her other hand in his own as he stopped walking, "You want to know when _I_ fell?"

"Let me guess," she rolled her eyes playfully, "When you first saw me sitting across the bar from you, you were just smitten by my good looks and mysterious air…"

"No," he laughed, seeming to both surprise her and not-surprise her at the same time, "I…think it was," he lifted her hand, the one she tended to punch people with, the one she always seemed to be getting hurt, all healed up thanks to Khan's blood, "I think it was when I saw you take Cupcake out and hurt your hand," he gently rubbed her knuckles with his thumb, "You were just…this little thing, but with this power punch," he smiled at her, "And you got hurt for it. You weren't this…untouchable, unreachable, stone warrior," that was the best he could describe it, he saw a lot of people get into fights and not get hurt, the movies were full of them, it made them seem unreal, but Victoria got hurt, she hit someone and there were consequences, it made her… "You were REAL," he nodded, THAT was how it should have been described, "And I could tell you'd be this…person whose smallest action or look would affect so much around her…" he let out a soft breath, "Your little punch affected me, I fell hard right then and there."

She smiled at that, "What does that say about us? That we fell in love when we saw the other one hurt?"

"I think…" he trailed off a moment, thinking about that, "I think it means we realized the other person wasn't invulnerable, that they…they could get hurt, and they'd need someone there when they did. And that…WE wanted to be that other person. I always want to be that person for you Tory," he admitted, "I really DO love you."

"I love you too," she whispered, leaning in to kiss him gently, "And I'll be there for you too. But…" she smirked as he gave her a look, "I really am NEVER punching anyone for you again."

He laughed, turning to continue their walk, "I'll believe THAT when I see it," he winked at her, knowing she'd promised that repeatedly in the past and never seemed able to quite manage keeping it.

"Captain on ze bridge!" Chekov called as the doors to the Bridge opened and they stepped onto it.

"It's hard to get out of it once you've had a taste," Kirk remarked to Sulu who was sitting in the Captain's chair, Victoria heading over to speak to Carol when she spotted the woman, "Isn't that right, Mr. Sulu?"

"Captain does have a nice ring to it," Sulu laughed, getting up, "The chair is all yours, sir."

"Mr. Scott, how's our core?" Kirk called into the comm..

"Purring like a kitten, Captain," Scotty cheered, "She's ready for a long journey."

"Excellent," he grinned and turned to Bones as the man glanced at Carol, "Come on, Bones, it's gonna be fun."

"Five years in space, God help me," he muttered.

"Think of it like this…five years with Carol," he winked at the man, patting him on the arm as Bones's cheek turned faintly pink, before he headed over to Victoria as she spoke with the girl in question.

"I'm really glad you decided to stay," Victoria was saying as she hugged the woman.

"Welcome to the family," Kirk agreed, moving to wind an arm around Victoria's shoulders when she pulled away.

"It's nice to have a family," Carol smiled at them, grateful for taking her on despite her trickery to get there.

"So," he turned to Victoria as Carol wandered casually over to Bones with the excuse of having a question about a pain in her leg, right…

"So?" she looked at him.

"Are you ready?" he asked, trailing his hands down her arms to take her hand, "Five years in space…it's a long time. Anything could happen."

"Five years with you?" she paused to consider it, "Not long enough. I think we ought to get lost somewhere near the end of it."

He beamed at that and kissed her healed-hand, leaving her at her post before he headed to his chair, "Spock," he greeted as the Vulcan entered the Bridge.

"Captain," Spock nodded.

"Where should we go?"

"As a mission of this duration has never been attempted...I defer to your good judgment, Captain."

Kirk grinned and turned, sitting on his chair, "Mr. Sulu, take us out."

"Aye, Captain," Sulu nodded, reaching out to send the ship into warp, a world of possibilities open to them and none of them could wait to find out what those possibilities would lead to.

To be continued…in…Veritas et Fortitude!

A/N: I can't believe it's over! O.O I'm so sad now, I love Tory and Kirk, and speaking of...the official winner of the poll is...Kory! ^-^ Adorable :) I really hope you all enjoyed this story and this chapter, though I have to ask. Is is slightly bad/evil that I'm hoping it made you cry a little bit? }:)

On a lighter note, I really want to say thank you to all of you :) To anyone who read/reviewed/favorited/followed/anything this story. You all mean the world to me and I'm so glad that you liked it :) I love you all so much!

Just for future reference the third story in this series will be up when the 3rd Star Trek movie comes out :) The last story in a series will be whatever movie is last when they confirm the current cast will no longer be a part of the movies series :) And, for anyone who's interested, I'll be posting a Doctor Who, Time Lady story on Friday that starts in Series 4 ;)

Some notes on reviews...

Not quite the both of them, but they both suffered I think }:)

I hope the unoffical mission was successful ;)

Oh I think Victoria sort of knew from the start when her father died that Khan would be the death of her too :( Going in was just her way of keeping Kirk from dying with them :'(

I gave Kirk a bit of the KHAN! lol ;)


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